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POLAND  CENTENNIAL 


September  i  i,  1895 


f|? 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  BIOGRAPHICAL 
SKETCHES 


ALVAN   B.    RICKER,      BERT.   M.    FERNALD, 

''  AND 

HIRAM  W.   RICKER. 


^ 


RESPECTFULLY    DEDICATED 


LOAN  STACK 


Copyright,  1896,  by 

RICKER,  FERNALD  &  RICKER, 

Poland,  Maine. 


ENGRAVED  AND  PRINTED  BY 

ANDREW  H.  KELLOGG,  409-415  PEARL  STREET, 

NEW  YORK. 


PREFACE. 

From  the  dearth  of  accurate  knowledge  possessed  by  the 
present  generation  of  facts  and  data  relating  to  the  past  of 
Poland,  the  importance  has  become  strongly  impressed  upon 
us  of  a  record,  accurate  as  far  as  our  knowledge  and  research 
extend,  that  may  be  preserved  for  reference  by  future  gen- 
erations, and  that,  a  century  hence,  may  be  of  value  to  the 
historian,  or  to  those  interested  in  the  annals  of  the  birthplace 
of  their  fathers. 

In  undertaking  this,  we  have  not  presumed  to  attempt 
a  history— simply  to  give  a  few  facts  relative  to  those  prom- 
inent in  the  town's  present  or  past;  to  its  industries  and 
capabilities,  which,  together  with  a  full  account  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Anniversary  of  our  Centennial  Day,  we  hope 
will  constitute  something  of  interest  and  value  to  be  perused 
by  our  descendants  in  years  to  come. 

We  present  this  book  to  our  fellow-townsmen,  and  to 
the  public,  sincerely  trusting  that,  if  aught  has  been  over- 
looked or  too  lightly  passed  over  by  us,  the  omission  will  be 
pardoned,  for  we  have  endeavored  to  do  the  best  we  could 
with  the  means  at  our  command. 


200 


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CENTENNIAL  COMMITTEE. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The  Parade, Frontispiece 

Centennial  Committee, vii 

Hiram  W.  Ricker,  Marshal  of  the  Day, xi 

James  I.  Chipman, 3 

Bert.  M.  Fernald, 7 

W.  W.  McCann, II 

A.  B.  Ricker, 23 

The  Dinner,    .     .     • 25 

Hon.  Nelson  Dingley, 29 

Town  House, 31 

Edward  Payson  Ricker, 33 

Rev.  J.  Albert  Libby, 35 

Frank  E.  Hanscom, 45 

Mrs.  Louise  M.  Waterhouse, 49 

R.  J.  Everett, 53 

John  C.  Davis, 59 

Facsimile  of  Agreement  of  1776, 63 

S.  L.  Littlefield, 73 

J.  W.  Penney, 79 

View  of  Poland  Corner,  Centennial  Day, 87 

Mr.  H.  W.  Ricker,  Marshal,  and  his  Staff, 91 

Selectmen  and  Treasurer,  1896, 93 

School  Board, 95 

Moses  Emery,  the  First  Male  Child  born  in  Poland, 97 

Hannah  Snell,  the  Oldest  Woman  in  Poland, 99 

Moses  A.  Herrick,  Poland's  Oldest  Male  Inhabitant, loi 

The  Staples  Burying-Ground, 109 


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HIRAM  W.  RICKER, 
Marshal  of  the  Day. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Arrangements  having  been  made  at  the  annual  town  meet- 
ing, held  on  the  second  Monday  in  March,  1895,  to  celebrate  the 
one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  Poland,  a 
committee  of  five,  consisting  of  A.  B.  Ricker,  B.  M.  Femald, 
W.  W.  Dennen,R.  J.  Everett,  and  J.  W.  Boothby,  were  chosen  to 
prepare  a  programme  and  make  all  necessary  arrangements  for 
the  eventful  day.  The  sum  of  $500  was  appropriated  to  defray 
the  expense,  which  was  inadequate,  the  committee  expend- 
ing about  $100  more  than  that  amount.  All  citizens  were 
invited  to  furnish  food,  and  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  they 
responded  admirably,  nearly  every  family  in  town  contributing 
cheerfully  and  liberally.  The  morning  was  cloudy,  and  by  ten 
o'clock  a  brisk  shower  poured  down,  but  despite  the  rain  fully 
3,000  people  had  gathered  to  enjoy  the  festivities  of  the  great 
day.  By  10.30  o'clock,  the  clouds  and  rain  had  passed,  and  a 
beautiful  sunshine  appeared  for  the  remaining  part  of  the 
day.  A  procession  was  then  formed  under  the  leadership  of 
Marshal  Hiram  W.  Ricker  and  aides,  to  meet  the  incoming 
guests  at  Poland  Station  on  the  Portland  &  Rumford  Falls 
Railroad,  from  whence,  after  greeting  the  concourse  of 
enthusiastic  friends  who  had  come  to  join  in  paying  tribute  to 
the  beloved  old  town,  it  moved  back,  accompanied  by  the 
Lewiston  Brigade  Band,  through  the  streets  of  Poland  Comer  as 
far  as  the  cemetery.  Here  a  halt  was  called,  and  a  dirge 
played,  with  muffled  drums,  in  honor  of  our  loyal  dead. 
Thence  the  line  moved  on  to  a  tent,  fifty  by  two  hundred  feet 
square,  which  had  been  procured  from  Boston  for  the  occasion. 

Arriving  at  the  tent,  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by 
James  I.  Chipman,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Selectmen,  who 
introduced  B.  M.  Fernald  as  President  of  the  day.  Mr.  Femald 
gave  the  address  of  welcome,  and  introduced  the  many  speakers 
of  the  occasion.     The  dinner  was  under  the  sole  management 


2                                                              INTRODUCTION.  i 

of  Mr.  A.  B.  Ricker,  who  was  especially  adapted  for  the  posi- 
tion, and  who  will  long  be  remembered  for  his  generosity  and  \ 
businesslike  manner  in  preparing  this  part  of  the  entertainment.  \ 
The  dinner  was  one  of  the  best,  and  free  to  all.  The  i 
speeches,  poems,  letters,  and  other  proceedings  will  all  be  ' 
found  reported  in  this  book,  together  with  portraits  of  the  i 
speakers,  the  town  officers,  selectmen,  treasurer,  school  board,  1 
the  Centennial  Committee,  the  first  child  born  in  Poland,  and  j 
many  other  illustrations  of  interest  to  this  and  to  coming  :] 
generations.  ; 


JAMES  I.  CHIPMAN, 
Chairman,  Board  of  Selectmen,  iSg;;. 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


After  the  parade,  the  exercises  were  opened  in  the  tent 
by  Mr.  James  I.  Chipman,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Select- 
men, who,  with  the  following  introductory  remarks,  intro- 
duced Mr.  B.  M.  Femald  as  President  of  the  Day: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

The  town  of  Poland  is  at  home  to-day  to  greet  her 
sons  and  daughters  from  other  towns  and  distant  States,  and 
welcome  them  to  the  scenes  of  their  childhood,  on  this,  her 
one  hundredth  anniversary.  It  becomes  my  pleasant  duty, 
in  behalf  of  this  good  old  town,  radiant  in  all  the  glory 
of  Autumn,  to  turn  the  key  in  the  door,  and  bid  you 
welcome;  and  may  the  memory  of  this  day,  with  all  its 
associations,  be  a  helpful  influence  for  good,  for  many  years 
to  come. 

Another  pleasant  duty  that  falls  upon  me  is  to  call 
upon  an  enterprising  and  loyal  son  of  this  town  to  preside 
over  these  exercises.  It  is  with  pleasure  I  call  upon 
Mr.  B.  M.  Fernald,  of  West  Poland. 

Mr.  Fernald,  in  taking  the  chair,  responded  with  the 
following  remarks : 

By  the  generosity  of  our  town,  and  the  loyalty  of  her 
citizens,  we  are  permitted  to-day  to  celebrate  the  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  its  existence.  Centuries  before  any 
authentic  record  of  our  history,  the  savages  roamed  with 
freedom  over  our  hills  and  vales,  feasted  on  the  beasts  of 
the  forest,  quaffed  from  the  bubbling  springs,  sat  by  the 
noisy  brook,  and  listened  to  its  enchanting  music  as,  from 
its  hillside  birthplace,  it  slowly  descended,  touching  the  white 
pebbles  in  its  course  as  notes  on  the  keyboard  of  Nature's 
harmony,    executing    s5miphonies    which    have    never    been 


6  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

written,  but  are  playing  as  harmoniously  and  sweetly  to-day 
as  on  the  morn  of  creation.  This  is  a  glimpse  at  the  primitive 
condition  of  our  beloved  town,  whose  name  we  adore,  and 
whose  one  hundredth  anniversary  we  celebrate. 

Our  forefathers  moved  here,  sturdy  men  and  women, 
full  of  courage,  ambition,  enterprise,  and  perseverance,  true 
to  themselves,  their  country,  and  their  God.  They  instituted 
a  town,  and  every  year  in  the  century,  from  its  establish- 
ment, history  is  replete  with  the  evidences  of  its  progress. 
Our  early  settlers  were  men  of  sterling  worth  and  character, 
who  loved  and  fought  for  their  home,  their  town,  and  their 
country.  The  lessons  they  taught,  the  love  of  liberty  they 
instilled,  have  helped  to  make  our  nation  what  she  is  to-day. 
The  scholar,  the  historian  who  attempts  to  unfold  the  history 
of  Poland's  advancement,  will  find  in  her  early  settlers  men 
of  strong  and  invincible  character,  who  bequeathed  to  us,  as 
their  richest  legacy,  integrity,  honesty,  love  of  liberty,  faith 
in  God.  Let  us  cherish  their  memories,  that  our  children's 
children,  yet  unborn,  will,  one  hundred  years  from  to-day, 
acknowledge  us  as  worthy  of  our  sires. 

But,  my  firm  friends,  all  that  I  am  expected  to  do  to-day 
is  to  bid  you  welcome.  As  a  representative  of  the  grand, 
patriotic  old  town  in  which  I  have  always  lived,  and  of  which 
I  have  ever  been  proud,  I  bid  you  a  hearty  welcome. 

To  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Poland  residing  in  the 
adjoining  towns,  with  your  friends,  I  bid  you  welcome.  We 
are  glad  to  see  you.  It  has  been  said,  and  truly,  too,  I  think, 
that  Poland  has  contributed  to  Portland  a  larger  share  of  her 
business  men  than  any  other  town  in  this  State.  And  not  only 
Portland,  but  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  many 
other  cities  and  towns  where  her  sons  and  daughters  have 
located,  as  a  rule,  they  have  achieved  success,  and  we  are 
proud  of  them.     To  you  we  bid  a  cordial  welcome. 

To  the  children  of  our  fair  daughter,  the  blushing  bride 
who  married  an  offspring  of  Minot,  and  formed  that  new  and 
beautiful  town  of  Mechanic  Falls,  we  bid  you  a  warm  and 
sincere  welcome.  We  parted  from  you  reluctantly.  You  had 
been  in  the  family  for  a  long  time — in  fact,  from  its  birth — but 
whatever  achievements  of  success  you  may  attain,  we  will  ever 
be  glad,  and  wish  you  that  sublime  prosperity  which  you  most 
certainly  deserve. 


BERT.    M.    FERNALD, 


8  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

To  the  citizens  of  Poland  now  residing-  within  its  borders, 
who  have  contributed  so  largely  and  so  cheerfully  to  this  enter- 
tainment— in  the  name  of  the  old  town,  I  thank  you.  To  you 
is  this  occasion  especially  dear.  You  who  have  lingered  on 
the  old  farms  and  homesteads,  you  who  have  taken  up  the 
work  so  nobly  begun  by  your  fathers,  some  of  you  venerable 
men,  have  memories  reaching  back  to  the  town's  infancy. 
Some  of  you,  young  men,  have  hopes  stretching  forward 
almost  to  the  next  century  ;  and  although  none  of  us  present 
may  ever  live  to  share  the  glories  of  the  next  Centennial 
anniversary,  let  us  hope  that  our  offspring  may  be  so  imbued 
and  inspired  with  the  boundless  love  of  patriotism,  with  respect 
for  the  birthplace  and  home  of  our  fathers,  with  regard  and 
honor  for  the  old  town  of  Poland,  that  this  occasion,  compared 
to  that,  may  be  but  as  the  faint  rays  of  a  lighted  candle  to  that 
great  orb  of  light  which  sheds  its  dazzling  beams  of  brightness 
over  the  whole  world. 

After  the  opening  remarks  of  the  Chairman,  prayer  was 
offered  by  the  Rev.  George  F.  Durgin,  of  Chicopee,  Mass.,  a 
former  resident  of  Poland,  and  this  was  follov/ed  by  the  Cen- 
tennial Hymn,  composed  by  the  Rev.  Frederic  Newport,  which 
was  sung  by  the  entire  audience: 

PRAYER. 

O  Lord,  Father  of  all  our  mercies,  and  God  of  grace. 
Thou  has  been  our  dwelling  place  in  all  generations,  our  God 
and  our  fathers'  God.  Grant  us  Thy  presence  and  Thy  bless- 
ing this  morning,  as  we  engage  in  the  services  of  this  memor- 
able occasion.  Our  hearts  are  made  glad  by  the  presence  of  so 
many  of  our  former  citizens  and  kindred,  who  in  Thy  good 
Providence  have  been  permitted  to  assemble  here  to  renew  the 
acquaintances  and  recall  the  associations  of  former  years,  and 
unite  with  us  in  paying  the  homage  of  our  respect  and  gratitude 
to  the  memory  of  the  early  settlers. 

We  thank  Thee  that  it  has  been  our  good  fortune  to  have 
our  birth  and  home  among  this  people,  in  the  land  of  church 
and  school,  the  nation  of  civil  and  religious  freedom.  We 
know  that  Thou  art  the  author  of  all  light,  and  truth,  and 
progress.  In  Thy  Universe,  there  are  no  accidents.  It  was 
not  by  chance  that  this  continent  was  discovered.     It  was  no 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL,  9 

chance  that  our  fathers  braved  the  dangers  of  the  seas  to  build 
a  home  in  a  wild  and  hostile  country.  We  thank  Thee  that 
Thou  didst  sustain  them  amid  dangers  and  hardships  in  their 
struggle  for  a  higher  Christian  life,  and  the  attainment  of  a 
more  exalted  citizenship.  We  thank  Thee  that  Thou  didst 
assist  them  in  establishing  those  institutions  which  have  made 
glorious  the  history  of  New  England.  We  bless  Thy  name 
for  the  patriotic,  noble  men  who  made  for  our  State  a  place — 
an  honored  name  in  the  nation.  Especially,  would  we  bless 
Thy  name  for  the  sacred  memories  and  hallowed  associations 
that  cluster  around  the  names  of  the  noble  men  and  women 
who  have  built  up  and  bequeathed  to  us  this  beloved  town. 
May  our  hearts  be  filled  with  gratitude  as  we  rehearse  the 
story  of  their  life,  their  acts  of  patriotism  and  heroism  and 
self-denial — their  devotion  to  the  principles  of  truth,  justice, 
and  religion. 

O  Lord,  give  us  to  realize  that  these  fertile  fields,  these 
pleasant  homes,  all  the  blessings  we  enjoy,  we  but  hold  in  trust 
for  posterity.  May  the  lessons  of  the  past  recited  this  hour 
better  prepare  us  to  discharge  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
the  present.  Be  with  all  those  who  are  to  participate  in  the 
exercises  of  the  day.  Direct  the  thoughts  and  utterances  of 
those  who  shall  address  us,  that  their  words  may  be  words  of 
wisdom  and  truth  suitable  to  the  occasion.  Make  us  loyal  to 
Thee,  to  the  town,  and  to  the  nation. 

Forgive  us  our  sins,  and  be  with  this  people  in  all  the  future, 
as  Thou  hast  been  in  all  the  past,  and  finally  receive  us  unto 
Thyself  to  dwell  forever.  And  Thy  name,  Father,  Son,  and 
Spirit,  shall  have  all  the  praise,  now  and  evermore.     Amen. 


10  POLAND   CENTENNIAL. 


CENTENNIAL   HYMN. 


Let  Poland's  sons  arise, 

With  strains  that  reach  the  skies, 

This  happy  morn. 
'Mid  festive  scenes  and  gay, 
Be  this  joyful  lay, 
To  celebrate  the  day 

When  she  was  born. 

From  mansion  on  the  hill 
And  homes  along  the  vale, 

The  numbers  swell. 
We  view  a  century  past, 
Replete  with  blessings  vast, 
Perform  the  sacred  task, 

Sweet  memories  tell. 

Recall  the  honored  names 
Of  noble  sires  and  dames, 

In  days  now  gone. 
Tell  of  the  industry 
Of  sturdy  yeomanry, 
Well-earned  prosperity, 

Their  toil  have  won. 

Tell  of  the  church  and  school 
That  gave  true  civic  rule 

By  which  to  win. 
And  still  in  harmony. 
With  zealous  loyalty, 
A  brighter  century 

Of  life  begin. 


B.  M,  Fernald,  Chairman  —  I  am  pleased  to  introduce 
another  loyal  son  of  Poland,  of  whom  she  is  well  proud.  I 
have  the  honor,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  of  introducing  to  you, 
as  Orator  of  the  Day,  an  unknown  and  obscure  farmer,  W.  W. 
McCann.       (Laughter  and  applause.) 


W.  W.   McCANN. 


12  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

W.  W.  McCann — I  thank  you,  sir,  for  your  modesty. 

We  meet  to-day  to  commemorate  the  Centennial  year  of 
our  corporate  existence  as  a  town.  In  the  slow  progress  of  the 
ancient  world,  one  hundred  years  marks  but  little  change  in 
the  progress  of  the  human  race;  but  in  the  swifter  evolutions 
of  the  recent  past,  the  nineteenth  century  forms  no  inconsider- 
able period  in  the  progress  and  achievements  of  the  modern 
world.  But  four  centuries  have  passed  since  this  new  conti- 
nent was  first  made  known  to  civilized  man.  Scarcely  a  century 
and  a  quarter  ago,  the  representatives  of  this  people  declared 
their  independence  of  the  foreign  power,  and  announced  to  the 
world  for  the  first  time  the  source  from  which  governments 
derive  their  chief  power — the  consent  of  the  governed.  The 
seventeenth  century  was  well  advanced  before  any  considerable 
settlement  was  made  on  the  coast  of  Maine  or  off  New  England. 
But  little  over  a  hundred  years  ago,  the  place  which  you  occupy 
here  to-day  sustained  a  lofty  growth  of  pines,  and  the  hills  and 
valleys  were  covered  with  a  dark  and  sunless  forest,  the 
accumulated  growths  of  centuries.  No  sound  of  civilization 
had  ever  disturbed  the  unbroken  slumber  of  these  solitudes ; 
no  sign  of  human  habitation  but  the  scanty  w4gwam  of  the 
humble  native,  and  no  sound  but  the  echoing  war-whoop  of 
the  Indian  brave.  Your  fertile  fields,  now  smiling  in  abundant 
harvest,  were  Indian  hunting-grounds,  and  the  site  of  your 
costly,  comfortable  dwellings  was  the  abode  of  savage  life. 
But  the  white  man,  the  conqueror,  came.  The  simple  native 
was  unable  to  resist  the  advancing  forces  of  civilization,  and 
reluctantly  and  sullenly  he  surrendered  the  hunting-ground  of 
his  fathers,  dear  to  him  by  associations  and  traditions.  As  a 
race,  they  have  perished  from  the  earth. 

One  hundred  and  twenty-seven  years  ago  was  heard  the 
first  sound  of  the  pioneer's  axe  in  Bakerstown,  and  the  first 
settlement  was  made  on  the  soil  of  our  town.  The  first  open- 
ing in  this  town  was  made  at  East  Poland,  in  1768,  and  in  the 
following  year  others  came.  The  soil  was  congenial,  pro- 
ductive, less  hardy,  and  easier  to  cultivate  than  many  of  its 
neighboring  localities.  This  was  an  inducement  to  settlers, 
and  inhabitants  began  rapidly  to  multiply.  They  constructed 
roads,  they  built  a  schoolhouse,  and  organized  a  church.  They 
prospered,  they  grew  ambitious,  and  established  an  empire — 
the  first  that  was  ever  reared  upon  this  continent.     (Laughter 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  I3 

and  applause. )  You  who  reside  in  the  west  part  of  our  town, 
be  not  envious  or  impatient,  "for  the  star  of  Empire  still  west- 
ward takes  its  course,"  and  you  may  some  day  hold  the  sceptre 
of  power.  The  Empire  built  here  was  not  established  by  mili- 
tary force  or  hereditary  right.  You  gentlemen  of  the  east 
were  not  governed  by  despotic  authority.  Your  Empire  was 
the  dominion  of  thought,  ideas,  the  school,  and  the  church — 
the  best  forces  of  New  England  civilization — and  you  have 
maintained  it  well. 

SOUTH    POLAND. 

The  second  permanent  settlement  in  this  town  was  made 
in  1779,  on  what  is  now  known  as  the  Dockham  Farm,  South 
Poland.  Many  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  region  belonged  to 
ancient  families.  John  Chipman,  born  in  Dorchester,  England, 
in  16 1 4,  emigrated  to  America  in  1650.  His  grandson,  Ben- 
jamin, moved  to  Poland  in  1778.  His  son,  Benjamin  second, 
came  from  Thornton,  Mass.,  to  Poland  in  1781,  and  settled  on 
the  farm  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Chester  Chipman.  The 
farm  has  been  handed  down  from  father  to  son  during  all  these 
1 14  years.  Daniel  Schillinger  came  to  Bakerstown  from  Fal- 
mouth, Maine,  in  1792.  He  was  the  son  of  Jacob  Schillinger, 
of  East  Hampton,  Long  Island,  N.  Y.  He  was  the  fourth 
generation  from  the  Jacob  Schillinger  who  came  from 
Amsterdam,  Holland,  and  settled  in  New  Amsterdam,  now 
New  York,  in  1653.  ^^®  venerable  William  Schillinger, 
grandson  of  the  first  Schillinger,  who  settled  in  this  town, 
resides  at  South  Poland,  and  was  born  in  1806,  to  whom  your 
historian  informs  me  he  is  indebted  for  much  valuable  informa- 
tion. We  regret  that  by  the  reason  of  age  and  infirmities  we 
are  deprived  of  his  presence  to-day.  Daniel  Jackson  settled  at 
South  Poland  at  an  early  date.  He  built  the  old  Jackson  tavern 
stand  in  1795,  which  remains  to-day  in  its  original  form.  About 
this  time  came  the  Rickers  of  ancient  lineage.  Later  came 
Capt.  Robert  Snell,  and  others.  They  maintained  a  school; 
they  sustained  public  and  religious  worship;  they  supported  a 
blacksmith's  shop  and  a  store.  The  little  active  community 
assumed  a  prosperous  and  businesslike  appearance. 

In  tracing  the  history  of  any  community,  it  is  well  to 
inquire  what  were  the  character  and  purpose  of  its  early  inhabit- 
ants.    The  first  settlers  of  this,  like  those  of  most  other  inland 


14  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

towns  of  Maine,  were  of  hardy,  industrious  New  England 
stock,  the  best  product  of  men  and  women,  perhaps,  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  (.Applause.)  Their  object  in  coming  here  cer- 
tainly was  not  for  gold  or  glory. 

The  old  Spanish  explorers,  who  made  a  conquest  of  Mexico 
and  Peru,  were  animated  by  an  insane  desire  to  possess  the 
gold  of  the  Montezumas  and  the  wealth  of  the  Incas.  Our 
fathers,  most  of  them,  were  poor  men,  having  no  earthly  pos- 
sessions but  those  they  carried  with  them,  and  claims  to  the  wild 
land  which  they  were  to  clear  up  and  cultivate.  The  purpose, 
then,  of  our  fathers  in  coming  here  was  to  clear  up  farms, 
build  up  homes  for  themselves  and  families,  the  title  to  which 
they  could  possess  and  transmit  to  their  children ;  to  build 
schools  which  were  to  become  the  common  educational  home  of 
the  community;  to  build  churches  where  they  could  worship  in 
a  manner  dictated  by  conscience  or  reason;  to  cultivate  an  ex- 
alted citizenship.  What  grander  purpose,  what  higher  aspira- 
tion, could  actuate  a  people  than  a  desire  to  build  a  home  for 
themselves  and  families  ?  It  is  the  love  of  home  and  home  life 
that  constitutes  the  citizen  and  the  patriot — the  strength  of 
popular  government.  This  was  the  inspiration  of  the  fathers. 
It  inspired  them  to  acts  of  incredible  hardships,  and  sustained 
them  amid  distressing  privations.  The  forest  disappeared,  the 
rocks  were  gathered  into  heaps  or  placed  in  stone  walls,  and 
cultivated  fields  took  the  place  of  the  wilderness. 

WEST    POLAND. 

The  first  settlement  at  West  Poland  was  made  on  what  is 
now  known  as  Megquier  Hill,  in  1790,  by  Edmund  Megquier. 
The  great  career  of  the  Megquier  has  been  traced  in  the 
history  of  this  and  other  towns,  and  is  too  well  known  to  make 
any  extensive  comments.  Megquier  was  soon  joined  by 
William  and  Mark  Emery  and  Asa  Loring.  One  hundred 
years  ago,  the  first  Keene,  the  grandfather  of  the  present 
generation  of  that  name,  purchased  of  Asa  Loring  the  lot 
which  became  known  as  the  Keene  homestead.  At  this  time 
it  contained  a  log  house  and  a  hovel.  Under  the  wise  and 
energetic  management  of  three  generations,  it  has  grown  to  the 
extensive  and  almost  princely  estate  now  owned  and  occupied 
by  Orrin  S.  Keene,  one  of  our  leading  citizens  and  most  enter- 
prising business  men.     Megquier  Hill  has  long  been  known  for 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  15 

the  tone  and  character  of  its  people  and  the  beauty  of  its  sur- 
roundings. It  has  become  a  favorite  summer  resort.  The 
home  of  Mr.  Keene  is  thronged  every  summer  with  hundreds 
of  guests  seeking  pleasure,  health,  or  recreation,  where  they 
can  inhale  the  mountain  air,  enjoy  its  sightly  drives,  and  feast 
their  gaze  upon  varied  scenes  of  beauty  and  grandeur  such  as 
human  eyes  have  rarely  witnessed.     (Applause.) 

The  first  Free  Baptist  Church  of  Poland  was  organized 
here  in  1798.  Edmund  Megquier,  William  Emery,  Mark 
Emery,  and  John  Fernald  constituted  the  membership.  This 
church  prospered  from  the  first,  and  rapidly  increased  in  mem- 
bers. The  history  of  the  churches  is  left  to  other  and  abler 
hands,  yet  I  cannot  forbear  to  mention  one  whose  name  shines 
more  prominently  than  any  other  in  the  history  and  progress 
of  this  denomination  in  our  town.  You  will  anticipate  me  in 
pronouncing  the  name  of  Rev.  James  Libby.  (Applause.)  He 
was  installed  pastor  of  this  church  at  early  manhood.  He  was 
a  devoted  disciple  of  Christ,  an  earnest  advocate  of  His  great 
teaching.  Under  his  pastorate  the  church  so  rapidly  increased 
in  numbers  and  strength  as  soon  to  be  able  to  build  a  meeting- 
house. In  the  service  of  his  Master,  Father  Libb}^  gave  sixty 
years  of  his  life  in  the  religious  interests  of  our  town.  Earnest- 
ness, directness,  and  eloquence  were  characteristics  of  his 
pulpit  efforts.  Kindliness  and  devoted  piety  characterized  his 
daily  life.  Most  of  you  can  remember  him  as  he  stood  in  the 
pulpit,  grave  and  dignified,  declaring  the  truths  of  the  gospel 
with  great  force  and  wonderful  facility  of  expression.  It 
seemed  sometimes  as  if  he  was  inspired  by  Him  who  '*  touched 
Isaiah's  hallowed  lips  with  fire."  He,  Mr.  President,  was  your 
grandfather. 

In  1792,  John  Fernald  settled  on  the  spot  where  rests  the 
beautiful  dwelling  which  you  own  and  occupy.  This  estate 
has  descended  from  father  to  son  for  more  than  a  century. 
Your  father,  sir,  was  a  farmer  and  a  trader — a  respected  citizen. 
He  often  held  positions  of  honor  and  of  trust  in  his  native  town, 
and  was  always  faithful  to  those  trusts.  (Applause.)  Now, 
sir,  with  such  an  ancestry  as  this  you  ought  to  be  a  better 
man — I  take  it  all  back,  Mr.  President;  it  was  a  slip  of  the 
tongue. 

The  President — Oh,  certainly,  certainly.     (Laughter.) 

Mr.  McCann — What  I  should  say,  and  what  is  the  truth, 


l6  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

is  that  with  such  an  ancestry  we  have  a  right  to  expect  great 
things  of  our  President,  and  I  am  happy  to  say  that  he  is  not 
disappointing  those  expectations.  You  have  shown  yourself, 
not  an  enterprising,  but,  what  we  more  highly  prize,  a  loyal 
citizen.  (Applause.)  You,  sir,  and  Mr.  Keene,  and  Mr. 
Keene's  sons,  have  formed  a  new  industry  in  this  and  other 
towns,  in  the  interests  of  farming  and  agriculture,  and  it  speaks 
well  for  the  business  capacity  of  that  firm  that  in  these  hard 
times  of  limited  markets  and  low  prices,  while  similar  institu- 
tions are  silent,  its  factories  are  running  to  their  fullest 
capacity.  That  is  the  compliment  that  I  wish  to  pay  to  an 
enterprising  son  of  Poland.     (Applause.) 

In  1840,  the  second  Baptist  Church  was  formed  on 
White  Oak  Hill,  of  which  William  Stanton  and  William 
McCann  were  chosen  deacons,  and  officiated  in  that  capacity 
until  their  death,  a  period  of  forty  years. 

The  President — You  ought  to  be  a  better  man.  I  have 
nothing  to  take  back.     (Laughter  and  applause.) 

Mr.  McCann — It  is  hard  to  be  chastised  before  the 
gathered  assembly  of  your  fellow-citizens  and  neighbors,  but 
I  accept  the  compliment  to  the  memory  of  a  worthy  ancestor. 
(Laughter.) 

This  new  church  consisted  of  those  who  had  formerly 
belonged  to  the  First  Baptist  Church  at  Megquier  Hill. 
There  was  no  rebellion  in  this  church;  there  were  no  dissen- 
sions here.  The  division  was  to  accommodate  those  who  lived 
in  the  westerly  part  of  the  town,  and  they  ever  cherished  the 
kindliest  feelings  and  brotherly  love  for  old  Father  Libby. 

POLAND    corner. 

Poland  Corner  was  settled  later  than  many  other  parts 
of  our  town.  I  have  not  the  exact  date  of  its  settlement,  and 
cannot  ascertain  it,  but  it  was  somewhere  about  1800.  The 
first  building  was  the  old  saw-mill  at  the  outlet  of  Range 
Pond.  When  the  road  was  constructed  from  Portland, 
through  Poland,  Paris,  and  Oxford  County,  to  Canada,  Poland 
Comer  was  a  centre  of  trade.  The  older  men  here  present 
can  remember  when  lines  of  teams  were  seen  coming  down, 
at  all  hours  of  the  day,  from  Oxford  County,  and  slowly 
ascending  Ricker  Hill  to  their  market  in  Portland.  Nearly 
half  a  century  ago,  the  railway  was  constructed  through  our 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  17 

town,  changing  the  direction  of  travel  and  transportation,  and 
Poland  Corner  was  almost  deserted.  And,  sir,  the  thunder 
of  that  train,  as  it  comes  down  the  valley  to-day,  reminds 
lis  that  nearly  all  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  trans- 
portation has  been  made  in  the  last  century,  yea,  in  the  last 
three-quarters  of  a  century.     (Applause.) 

Poland,  in  the  one  hundred  years  of  her  existence,  has 
witnessed  the  marvelous  progress  of  the  world.  Half  a 
century  ago  was  the  day  of  the  glory  of  staging.  The  old 
stage,  driven  by  that  greatest  of  stage  drivers,  Mr.  Grosvenor 
Waterhouse,  was  then  seen  passing  through  Poland  Corner, 
drawn  by  four  prancing  steeds.  Half  a  century  ago  we  had 
no  telegraph  wires,  but  now  the  measureless  extent  of  the 
system  threads  the  continent.  It  has  joined  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Pacific,  and  we  can  talk  with  our  neighbors  across 
the  continent,  almost  instantaneously.  Science  and  enterprise, 
not  satisfied  with  this,  bid  defiance  to  the  powers  of  the  sea, 
and  we  now  speak  to  our  neighbors  across  the  water  beneath 
the  waves  of  Old  Ocean. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  varying  fortunes,  I  am  glad  to 
say  there  is  a  Poland  Corner  to-day.  We  have  here  a  steam 
mill,  a  saw-mill,  and  a  creamery  which  makes  the  best  butter 
in  the  county,  and  I  don't  know  but  I  may  say  in  the  country. 
(Applause.)  We  have  a  sanitarium  here,  with  a  medical 
specialist  at  its  head,  and  who,  although  recently  adopted,  has 
proved  himself,  on  this  occasion,  to  be  loyal  to  his  new  town. 

POLAND    IN    THE    WAR. 

Poland  has  ever  been  a  loyal  town.  Many  of  her  early 
inhabitants  were  Revolutionary  veterans.  When  the  war  of 
18 1 2  was  precipitated,  this  town  was  ready.  Captain  Robert 
Snell,  my  grandfather,  raised  a  company  of  volunteers.  He 
was  assigned  a  position  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Stark, 
and  ordered  to  report  at  Burlington,  Vt.,  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Champlain.  Captain  Snell  served  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  as  a  body  guard  for  his  father,  who  held  a 
captain's  commission.  He  was  a  brave  and  gallant  officer, 
and  did  valiant  service.  (Applause.)  Later,  the  terrific 
thunders  of  Civil  War  burst  upon  us,  and  this  temple  of 
liberty  was  rocked  to  its  foundation.  To  the  Government's 
call  for  support   Poland  responded  with  alacrity.     Many  of 


t8  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

you  will  remember  those  exciting  times  of  1861  to  1865, 
when  the  destiny  of  this  republic  hung  on  the  fortunes  of 
war.  Thirty-three  years  ago  this  very  day,  at  an  adjourned 
meeting  held  for  the  purpose  of  raising  money  for  the  support 
of  the  war,  William  P.  Frye  was  president,  and  addressed 
the  meeting.  Mr.  Frye  was  then  young — in  the  prime  of 
early  manhood.  He  delivered  a  glowing  and  patriotic  speech, 
which  gave  promise  of  the  future  orator  and  statesman. 
His  patriotic  utterances  found  ready  and  hearty  response 
from  the  loyal  heart  of  Poland.  (Applause.)  On  that  day 
some  of  our  most  promising  young  men  enlisted  in  "the 
ranks  of  war."  I  am  speaking  from  memory,  and  cannot 
give  the  doings  of  that  occasion  in  detail;  but  I  remember 
that  Alvin  F.  Foss  and  Joseph  H.  Freeman,  students  and 
teachers,  left  their  schools,  and  enrolled  their  names  among 
the  defenders  of  their  country.  Mr.  Foss  had  long  since 
passed  over  to  the  great  majority.  Captain  Freeman  has, 
since  the  close  of  the  war,  won  honorable  distinction  in  that 
great  State  which  gave  the  country  its  greatest  President  and 
the  world  its  noblest  martyr,  Abraham  Lincoln.  (Applause.) 
Captain  Freeman  was  expected  here  to-day  to  respond  to  the 
sentiment,  "Poland  in  the  War."  We  regret  his  enforced 
absence,  as  his  presence  and  eloquent  tongue  would  have 
added  so  much  to  this  occasion.  You  will  remember,  at 
that  time,  the  general  muster  held  at  Megquier  Hill,  in  the 
field  in  front  of  Orrin  S.  Keene's.  This  town  assumed  a 
decided  military  appearance.  There  was  martial  music  ; 
training  of  both  infantry  and  cavalry.  The  speeches  that 
followed  voiced  but  one  sentiment,  that  of  prosecuting  the 
war  at  all  hazards  to  a  successful  issue ;  that  the  flag  of  the 
fathers  must  float  over  every  State  of  this  Union,  the  emblem 
of  sovereign  power.  The  town  of  Poland  furnished  during 
the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  including  enlistments,  more  than 
three  hundred  men — more  than  half  of  her  able-bodied 
citizens.  The  town  voted  her  treasure  with  a  lavish  hand 
in  support  of  the  families  dependent  on  those  who  accepted 
the  chances  of  a  soldier's  life.  Fifty  thousand  dollars  and 
the  lives  and  health  of  many  of  our  best  citizens  were  the 
sacrifice  that  Poland  laid  on  the  altar  of  her  country. 
(Applause. )  As  reckoned  by  the  average  human  life,  nearly  a 
generation  has  passed  since  the  close  of  that  great  struggle, 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


19 


yet  we  see  veterans  limping  along  our  streets,  empty-sleeved, 
worn  and  battle-scarred,  souvenirs  of  their  own  and  their 
country's  glory.  (Applause.)  Scores  of  thousands  of  our 
best  citizens  and  countless  millions  of  treasure  were  freely 
offered  in  their  country's  defense.  But  the  republic  rose 
from  her  great  distress,  mightier,  purer  than  before,  more 
worthy  of  men's  devotion  and  God's  favor.  The  great 
achievements  of  our  veterans  were  the  re-establishment  of 
self-government,  the  maintenance  of  our  nationality,  the 
preservation  of  this  Union  of  States,  and  the  destruction  of 
American  slavery.  In  your  name  and  behalf,  we  present 
our  country  to  the  world  *to-day  without  a  master,  and 
without  a  slave.  We  present  the  flag  of  the  fathers,  the 
emblem  of  union  and  nationality.  We  present  to-day,  "Not 
a  confederacy  of  independent  warring  and  jarring  States,  but 
a  nation,  sovereign,  grand  and  free."  With  pride  we  recall 
the  great  names  developed  in  that  great  struggle,  both  in 
the  council  chambers  of  the  nation  and  in  the  field.  What 
American  is  there  insensible  to  his  country's  glory,  that  his 
heart  does  not  quicken  to  a  warmer  patriotism,  and  pulsate 
with  a  loftier  manhood,  as  he  remembers  the  great  action 
and  unselfish  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  noblest  of  our 
Martyred  dead;  of  Seward;  of  Douglass;  of  Stanton;  of 
Fessenden ;  of  Sumner,  and  others  ? 

So,  too,  in  the  field,  who  does  not  point  with  pride  to  that 
fearless  Farragut,  lashed  to  the  mast,  at  Mobile  Bay,  that  he 
might  behold  the  enemy  above  the  smoke  of  battle;  of  that 
gallant  Sherman,  marching,  like  an  irresistible  tornado,  from 
*' Atlanta  to  the  Sea;"  to  that  incomparable  Sheridan,  riding 
swifter  than  the  wind,  and  organizing  victory  out  of  defeat ; 
to  that  fearless  Hooker,  fighting  the  enemy  on  the  mountain, 
above  the  clouds;  that  brave  Hancock,  resisting,  again  and 
again,  on  the  fields  of  Gettysburg,  the  fiery  onslaught  of  Lee; 
to  Grant,  the  silent  hero,  speaking  only  in  the  thunders  of 
war  and  the  paeans  of  victory,  marching  with  uninterrupted 
success  from  Vicksburg  to  Appomattox  ?  Heroes,  patriots, 
every  one,  but  only  fitting  exponents  of  the  soldiers  they  led 
to  victory  and  to  glory. 

Veterans  of  the  Grand  Army!  It  is  with  feelings  of 
sadness  and  solemnity  that  we  recognize  the  fact  that  your 
ranks  are  fast  thinning  out.     There  is  no  resource  from  which 


20  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

to  draw  recruits.  When  a  Grand  Army  man  falls,  he  has  left 
a  vacancy  for  evermore.  There  is  none  to  take  his  place.  In 
a  few  years  from  now,  you  will  live  only  in  history,  and  in 
memory;  but  when,  in  the  changefulness  of  human  things, 
the  time  shall  come  when  the  last  veteran  of  the  Grand  Army 
shall  have  broken  ranks  below,  and  be  mustered  into  the 
ranks  of  comrades  in  the  great  beyond,  the  great  deeds 
that  you  did,  the  heroic  sacrifices  that  you  made  for  human- 
kind, while  on  earth,  will  live  on  in  ever-expanding  glory. 
In  the  coming  centuries,  your  great  doings  shall  furnish  fresh 
themes  for  the  orator's  lips,  and  your  sacred  requiem  shall  be 
hymned  by  loftiest  harps.     (Applause.) 

DIVISION    OF    POLAND. 

Poland  does  not  contain  the  territory  to-day  that  it 
contained  in  the  original  grant.  In  1795,  when  Poland  was 
incorporated,  it  embraced  the  territory  of  Minot  and  Poland, 
and  the  town  was  so  large  that  it  was  unwieldy.  Citizens 
were  unacquainted  with  each  other  in  different  sections  of 
the  town.  There  were  no  dissensions,  and  no  rebellions,  but 
it  was  thought  best  for  the  interest  of  the  commonwealth  to 
divide  the  town,  and  that  part  on  the  east  side  of  the  Andros- 
coggin River  was  set  off,  and  called  Minot.  Poland  retained 
its  name.  In  1852,  we  made  another  grant  to  the  town  of 
Danville.  In  1893,  we  ceded  a  small  part  of  our  territory, 
which  united  with  Minot,  formerly  a  part  of  Poland,  and 
created  the  town  of  Mechanic  Falls.  But  I  congratulate  you, 
Mr.  Chairman  and  fellow-citizens,  that  there  is  a  Poland  still, 
fully  armed  for  new  conquests  at  the  opening  of  its  second 
century  of  corporate  existence.  When  Mechanic  Falls  was 
set  off,  I,  for  one,  was  sorry.  I  will  tell  you  why.  I  thought 
that  the  boys  were  going  away  from  home,  and  would  be 
homesick  and  want  to  come  back.  I  have  no  doubt  they  have 
shed  homesick  tears.  But  our  distinguished  first  selectman 
very  wittily  remarked,  this  morning,  that  the  town  of  Poland, 
in  this  last  grant,  had  lost  nothing  but  territory.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  We  have  natural  resources  for  a  wealth  of 
business.  We  have  in  abundance  the  great  products,  men 
and  women,  to  establish  other  towns,  and  to  create,  if  neces- 
sary, a  new  county,  and  still  have  a  grand  old  Poland  left, 
(Applause.) 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  21 

Mr.  President,  you  ask  me  to  speak  for  Poland  Spring-. 
You  are  asking  a  good  deal.  Poland  Spring  has  been  the 
theme  of  orators  and  statesmen.  The  doings  of  the  Cen- 
tennial, and  dedication  of  the  Maine  Building  of  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  for  a  public  library  and  art  gallery, 
are  still  fresh  in  your  memory.  That  was  the  most  noted 
assembly  that  ever  gathered  on  the  soil  of  Poland.  The 
elegant  and  accomplished  Judge  Symonds  sounded  the  strings 
of  oratory  in  melodious  tones.  The  Governor  brought  the 
congratulations  of  a  whole  State  in  honor  of  these  noble  sons 
of  Poland.  Massachusetts  came  asking  honors,  by  claiming 
that  she  was  once  a  part  of  Poland  Spring,  and,  after  much 
spiarring  and  some  historical  references,  it  was  finally  decided 
that  Massachusetts  should  have  the  honor  of  at  one  time  being 
an  inconsiderable  part  of  Ricker  Hill,  and  she  went  home 
happy  and  satisfied  with  this.  (Great  applause.)  Senator 
Hale  made  the  new  discovery  that  the  discoverer  of  Poland 
Spring  was  a  greater  benefactor  than  he  who  discovered  a 
continent.  Our  honored  Congressman,  present  to-day,  whom 
to  speak  of  as  a  statesman  of  national  reputation  is  to  convey 
but  little  idea  of  his  public  service,  came  to  Poland  Spring, 
on  that  day,  to  give  his  honest  and  candid  opinion.  And  our 
own  neighbor,  and  great  statesman,  the  incomparable  Frye, 
poured  the  torrent  of  his  mighty  eloquence  in  appreciation 
of  what  had  been  accomplished  at  Poland  Spring,  and  in 
recognition  of  the  magnificent  success  of  the  Rickers. 

Yes,  sir,  I  agree  with  you  that  no  one  can  speak  intelli- 
gently of  the  Poland  of  to-day,  without  reference  to  that 
great  plant. 

A  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  first  Ricker  in  whom  this 
town  has  an  interest  located  at  South  Poland,  the  entire  settle- 
ment were  Shakers.  They  would  have  no  commerce  with  the 
world's  people,  as  they  called  all  who  did  not  embrace  their  doc- 
trines. They  would  neither  give  shelter  nor  refreshment  to  the 
weary  and  hungry  traveler.  I  hardly  need  remind  you  that  the 
early  Rickers  did  not  embrace  their  faith.  They  preferred  to 
embrace  something  more  substantial  than  the  visionary  ideas 
of  Ann  Lee.  How  unfortunate  it  would  have  been  for  Poland 
and  the  world  had  they  been  converted,  and  lived  up  to  the 
letter  of  its  teachings !  I  am  reminded  that  their  descendants 
of  to-day   take   no   more  kindly  to  that   faith  than  did  their 


22  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

fathers,  a  century  ago.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  But  a 
Ricker  swung  wide  the  door  of  hospitality  to  the  stranger, 
and  offered  the  best  entertainment  and  table  that  was  then 
obtainable.  This  was  the  commencement  of  hotel  life  on 
Ricker  Hill.  From  this  small  beginning  and  larger  hopes, 
on  this  uncultivated  and  unproductive  hill,  developing  slowly 
at  first,  has  been  wrought  in  these  later  years  the  grandest 
success  of  modern  times.  From  property  paying  but  small 
assessment,  it  has  constantly  increased  in  value,  until  to-day 
it  pays  one-fourth  of  our  annual  expenditures.  What  a  help 
in  support  of  our  schools,  in  educating  our  children,  in  build- 
ing new  roads,  and  repairing  old  highways!  They  assume 
one-fourth  of  the  town's  indebtedness  that  has  been  entailed 
upon  us.  If  we  defer  payment  of  our  debt  long  enough,  with 
their  increasing  prosperity  they  will  be  obliged  to  assume  half, 
and  they  will  pay  it  uncomplainingly.  The  energy  and  enter- 
prise which  have  crowned  yonder  hill  with  such  elegance  and 
magnificence,  we  claim  to  be  the  product  of  Poland.  While 
we  are  justly  proud  of  their  prosperity,  which  has  given  us 
wealth  at  home  and  a  name  abroad,  we  recall  on  this  our  natal 
day,  with  greater  pride  and  satisfaction,  their  honest,  intel- 
ligent, generous,  and  patriotic  citizenship.  (Applause.)  A 
Ricker  was  never  known  to  forsake  a  friend  or  betray  a  trust. 
(Applause.)  There  may  have  been  times  when  we  have  been 
a  little  envious  of  their  prosperity  and  growing  fame.  But 
they  must  remember,  as  Carlyle  has  said,  *^  It  is  hard  for  us 
to  believe  that  our  neighbors  and  associates  are  made  of  better 
or  greater  stuff  than  ourselves."  But  there  is  not  a  true  son 
of  Poland  who  does  not  point  to-day,  with  feelings  of  pride, 
to  their  great  success.  They  have  ever  shown  themselves 
loyal  to  the  town,  devoted  to  her  interests,  and  proud  of  her 
achievements.  As  we  have  said,  the  name  of  Hiram  Ricker 
&  Sons  has  been  the  theme  of  eloquence. 

There  was  one,  however,  whose  life  was  given  in  this 
struggle  of  developing  Poland  Spring,  but  whose  name  has 
not  been  given  to  fame,  a  name  not  unworthy  to  be  mentioned 
in  connection  with  its  proudest  triumphs.  We,  lords  of  crea- 
tion, are  not  slow  in  sounding  the  praises  of  our  own  kind.  We 
do  not  forget  to  mention  any  deed  or  act  worthy  of  notice. 
But  the  less  noisy  and  unostentatious  triumphs  of  women,  we 
are  not  so  swift  to  recognize  and  applaud.     We  re^fard  it  as  a 


A.  B.   RICKER. 


24  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

happy  omen  that  promises  well  for  the  future,  that  the  power 
and  influence  of  woman  is  becoming  a  recognized  factor  in  the 
progress  of  the  human  race.  Gallantry  alone  would  demand 
that  we  place  her  at  least  on  an  equality  with  ourselves.  In  the 
great  army  of  human  progress,  it  is  the  true  men  and  the  true 
women  who  never  shirk  a  duty  or  shrink  from  danger  that 
move  the  world  on  to  victory.  A  great  senator  speaking  of  the 
resources  of  Maine,  on  a  recent  memorable  occasion,  referred 
to  Oxford  County  and  the  large  number  of  men  she  had 
furnished  the  country — men  who  have  occupied  positions  of 
usefulness  and  honor  in  almost  every  department  of  the  State 
and  national  distinction.  Now,  if  Oxford  has  produced  great 
men,  it  follows  without  argument  that  it  produces  great  women, 
for  only  great  mothers  produce  great  men. 

Three-quarters  of  a  century  ago,  in  an  inland  town  in 
that  famous  old  county,  surrounded  by  the  wild  and  rugged 
scenery  of  hill  and  mountain,  was  bom  Janette  Wheeler 
Bolster.  (Applause.)  She  was  of  a  respected  and  honored 
lineage.  She  received  a  thorough  education  at  Kent's  Hill, 
and  at  Bethel.  She  became  a  teacher  of  youth  and  a  student 
of  Art.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five,  she  became  the  bride  of 
Hiram  Ricker,  of  Poland.  Half  a  century  ago,  she  made  her 
home  in  what  is  now  known  as  the  Mansion  House,  on  Ricker 
Hill.  Country  inns,  in  those  days,  were  conducted  in  a  very 
different  manner  than  the  fashionable  summer  resorts  of 
to-day.  The  duties  of  landlady  were  varied  and  arduous. 
She  at  once  assumed  the  duties  of  hostess,  cook,  and  house- 
wife. Later,  she  became  the  great  mother  of  great  sons  and 
daughters.  Amid  the  varying  fortunes  at  Poland  Spring,  her 
wise  counsel,  executive  ability,  and  uncompromising  integrit}' 
did  much  in  giving  tone  and  direction  to  the  affairs  on  Ricker 
Hill.  (Applause.)  She  lived  to  realize  in  a  great  measure 
the  culmination  of  her  early  hopes.  Twelve  years  ago  her  life 
work  was  consummated.  The  loved  neighbor,  the  honored 
hostess,  the  devoted  mother,  and  helpful  wife  was  called  from 
her  earthly  to  her  eternal  home.  No  more  that  kindly  smile 
in  greeting  the  coming,  or  affectionate  farewell  to  the  parting 
guest.  Never  more  will  the  echo  of  that  queenly  step  sound 
along  those  corridors  and  splendid  halls  she  did  so  much  to 
build  up  and  adorn.  She  rests  in  the  family  cemetery,  near 
the   scenes  of  her   early  toils   and  later   triumphs — sleeping 


26  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

these  summers  beneath  the  flowers  bedewed  by  the  tears  of 
love.  No  biographer  has  given  her  Hfe  to  history,  no  Muse 
has  sung  her  virtues;  but  the  winds  which  sweep  over  yonder 
hilltop,  and  touch  its  sighing  pines  in  strains  of  plaintive 
melody,  chant  her  requiem.  Her  life  and  work  remain,  not 
only  a  precious  memory,  but  an  inspiration  to  wives  and 
mothers  who  shall  succeed  her  in  those  splendid  homes. 

With  pride,  we  recall  the  early  struggles  and  sturdy 
manliness  of  those  of  an  earlier  day.  I  love  to  think  of  the 
triumphs  of  our  fathers,  the  pioneers  of  these  Northern  wood- 
lands. What  marvelous  exhibition  of  fortitude  and  principle ! 
I  love  to  think  of  the  manly,  determined  bridegroom,  leading 
his  fair  and  no  less  determined  bride  to  his  lowly  home  in 
these  uninhabited  wildernesses.  I  love  to  think  of  them, 
commencing  life  thus  humbly,  with  faith  in  God,  faith  in  each 
other,  and  faith  in  humanity.  I  love  to  think  of  the  husband, 
toiling  in  the  summer's  heat,  and  braving  the  storms  of  winter, 
for  the  girl  he  loved.  I  love  to  think  of  the  wife,  singing 
merrily  as  the  birds  that  surround  her  humble  home  in  the 
springtime,  as  she  plies  the  shuttle,  or  prepares  the  frugal 
meal  for  him  who  is  all  the  world  to  her.  I  love  to  think  of 
the  husband  and  father,  now  enlarging  his  fields,  improving 
and  beautifying  his  home,  enduring  hardships  unmurmur- 
ingly.  I  love  to  think  of  the  wife  and  mother,  now  with  new 
joys  and  increased  cares,  teaching  her  first-bom  to  talk,  at  a 
summer's  twilight,  after  the  duties  of  the  day  are  o'er,  or 
instructing  him  in  his  letters,  by  the  light  of  a  pitch  knot, 
on  a  winter's  evening.  Again,  I  love  to  think  of  them,  father 
and  mother,  husband  and  wife,  after  the  cares  of  life  are  o'er, 
its  trials  past,  and  victories  won,  surrounded  by  manly  sons 
and  womanly  daughters,  with  no  torturing  memories  or  squan- 
dered opportunities,  no  unavailing  regrets  of  wrong  doing  or 
misdirected  effort,  going  down  to  life's  horizon  like  a  cloudless 
sunset.  These  are  the  triumphs  of  patience,  love,  and  trust. 
They  lived,  they  toiled,  they  died,  unknown.  Their  names 
are  not  recorded  on  the  scroll  of  fame,  but  they  are  written 
in  the  Lamb's  book  of  Life.  These  are  successes  worthy  of 
emulation,  examples  worthy  of  our  imitation.  They  did  the 
best  they  could  with  their  surroundings — angels  could  do  no 
more. 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


THE   DINNER. 


27 


It  is  but  just  to  say  that  the  dinner  was  one  of  the  finest 
ever  served  under  a  tent,  having  been  contributed  and  pre- 
pared by  the  generous  and  public-spirited  women  of  Poland. 
The  coffee  was  furnished  by  our  liberal  and  enterprising 
townsman,  Mr.  James  S.  Sanborn,  of  Chase  &  Sanborn, 
Boston,  one  of  the  largest  coffee  exporting  houses  of  this 
country,  and  all  was  served  under  the  personal  supervision  and 
careful  management  of  Mr.  A.  B.  Ricker. 

After  the  feast  came  toasts  and  speeches,  Mr.  Femald 
opening  with  the  following  introduction: 

We  are  eminently  honored  to-day  by  a  distinguished 
citizen  of  Androscoggin  County.  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
introducing  to  you  a  man  whose  words  and  deeds  have  been 
heard  and  read  from  Maine  to  California,  from  Canada  to  the 
sea.  Allow  me  to  introduce  to  you  the  Honorable  Nelson 
Dingley,  who  will  respond  to  the  toast,  '^The  Future  of  Our 
Country."       (Applause.) 

Hon.  Nelson  Dingley,  Jr. — Mr.  President,  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  Poland  :  Perhaps  I  owe  you  an  apology  for  dis- 
turbing the  conversation  in  which  3,000  of  the  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  Poland  seem  to  be  interested.  I  promise  you, 
however,  that,  if  you  will  give  me  your  attention,  I  will  detain 
you  but  a  very  few  minutes.  I  feel  that  it  is  good  to  be  here, 
my  friends.  The  only  regret  that  I  have  is  that  I  was  not  born 
in  Poland.  (Applause.)  And  yet,  I  did  the  next  best  thing 
to  it.  I  was  born  in  an  adjoining  town.  (Applause.)  lam 
not  sure  but  the  fact  that  the  northerly  and  westerly  breezes 
from  Poland,  sweeping  down  the  Androscoggin,  over  my 
cradle,  are  something  that  I  ought  to  acknowledge  as  a  per- 
sonal boon  to-day.     (Applause. ) 

I  have  been  thinking,  Mr.  President,  as  I  have  been  listen- 
ing to  the  entertaining  story  of  Poland  as  a  town,  how  interest- 
ing it  would  be  if  some  seer,  endowed  with  prophetic  vision, 
could  stand  here  to-day,  and  tell  us  what  Poland,  and  what  this 
grand  republic,  will  be  one  hundred  years  hence  ;  what  1995 
will  bring  to  those  who  are  to  follow  in  our  footsteps  at  the 
second  Centennial  of  Poland. 

And  yet,  my  friends,  if  history  is  philosophy  teaching  by 


28  POLAND    CENTENNIAL, 

example,  as  it  certainly  is ;  if  what  has  been  shall  be  repeated 
in  the  hereafter ;  if  the  story  of  the  past  is  valuable  only  as  it 
illuminates  the  path  of  the  future,  then  I  am  sure,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, that  in  departing  in  your  programme  for  a  few  moments 
from  the  story  of  the  probabilities  of  the  future,  you  have  done 
wisely  and  well.  For,  my  friends,  life  presents  itself  to  us  not 
simply  as  an  isolated  event  of  the  present,  but  also  as  stretch- 
ing far  into  the  future.  Those  who  are  to  come  after  us  have 
our  example  and  our  work  to  aid  them  in  whatever  they  shall 
undertake.  And  yet,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  growth  of  the 
Poland  of  1795  is  the  growth  not  only  of  the  Poland  of  to-day, 
but  of  Minot,  of  Auburn,  and  of  Mechanic  Falls,  I  call  to 
mind  that  the  population  here,  which  one  hundred  years  ago 
numbered  but  a  few  hundred,  in  a  century  has  risen  to  at  least 
17,000,  engaged  in  all  the  diversified  pursuits  which  befit  and 
ennoble  the  civilization  of  to-day. 

What  shall  this  territory  be  in  the  future  ?  It  requires, 
my  friends,  no  prophetic  vision,  looking  forward  by  the  imag- 
ination one  hundred  years,  to  picture,  in  the  territory  of  the 
Poland  of  1995,  a  population  of  not  less  than  one  hundred 
thousand,  engaged  in  not  only  all  lines  of  manufacture,  but 
also  in  all  the  diversified  industries  of  to-da}^  and  in  all  the 
diversified  industries  of  the  future  which  the  inventive  genius 
of  the  American  citizen  shall  devise. 

What  of  this  grand  Republic,  my  friends,  in  the  future  ?  I 
am  aware  that  Carlyle,  in  one  of  his  gloomy  papers,  has  pic- 
tured the  American  Republic  in  1995  ^^  a  thing  of  the  past.  I 
am  aware  that  he  has  predicted  that  the  free  institutions 
which  we  have  here  established  so  successfully  will,  within  a 
century,  have  perished,  and  demonstrated  the  impossibility  of 
free  government.  But  I  have  lived  long  enough,  my  friends, 
to  see  many  of  such  dire  predictions  with  respect  to  the  progress 
of  our  institutions  come  to  naught.  When  I  reflect  that  the 
flag  of  this  Republic,  when  the  town  of  Poland  was  incorporated 
in  1795,  h^d  only  fifteen  stars,  the  original  thirteen,  and  Ken- 
tucky and  Vermont,  which  had  been  added  after  the  framing 
of  the  Constitution,  and  that  to-day,  in  that  same  starry 
emblem,  are  found  forty-four  stars,  with  the  forty-fifth  soon  to 
be  added;  when  I  remember,  too,  Mr.  President,  that  this 
country  has  doubled  its  territorial  limits  since  the  town  of 
Poland  was  incorporated;  when  I  consider  that  the  population 


Hon.  nelson  DINGLEY. 


30  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

of  this  country,  then  only  four  and  one-half  millions,  has  risen 
to  seventy  millions  of  people,  it  is  difficult  to  place  limits  on 
our  future.  Imagination  sees  in  this  country  of  ours  in  1995 
not  less  than  five  hundred  millions  of  human  beings,  a  number 
so  large  that  we  may  well  inquire.  What  are  the  grounds  of 
such  a  prediction  as  this  ?  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact 
that,  if  this  country  were  as  dense  in  population  as  Great 
Britain  is  to-day,  it  would  have  one  thousand  one  hundred 
and  seventy  millions  of  people  this  side  of  Alaska;  and  if  it 
were  as  dense  as  Belgium,  it  would  have  one  thousand  four  hun- 
dred millions  of  people — figures  which  almost  startle  the  im- 
agination when  they  are  presented,  and  when  we  think  of  the 
possibilities  of  the  future. 

The  increase  of  the  wealth  of  this  Republic  in  the  one 
hundred  years  has  been  far  greater  than  the  growth  of  popula- 
tion. Even  as  late  as  1850,  the  wealth  of  the  country  was  only 
seven  and  one-fourth  billions,  or  three  hundred  and  eight 
dollars  per  inhabitant,  but  in  1890  it  had  reached  sixty-five 
billions,  or  one  thousand  and  thirty-nine  dollars  per  inhabitant. 
In  1795  there  was  not  a  mile  of  railroad  in  the  United  States, 
and  even  as  late  as  1830  only  tv/enty-three  miles.  To-day, 
one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  miles  of  railway  gridiron  the 
country  in  every  direction,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  telegraph 
and  telephone  annihilate  space.  But  if  the  progress  of  this 
hundred  years  shall  continue  for  the  next  century,  who  is  dar- 
ing enough  to  predict  what  this  country  will  be  when  the 
second  Centennial  of  Poland  shall  come  ? 

But  neither  growth  nor  population,  nor  increase  of  wealth, 
nor  national  power,  alone  marks  the  progress  of  any  people. 
Ideas  are  better  than  dollars,  and  thorough  manhood  and 
womanhood  more  enduring  monuments  than  splendid  cities. 
(Applause.)  We  have  suffered  in  this  direction  from  some 
points  of  view,  but,  after  all,  the  noble  blood  which  coursed  in 
the  veins  of  our  forefathers  has  not  lost  its  vigor  or  character. 
It  is  in  this  great  republic  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  race — the 
race  which,  under  God,  is  civilizing  the  world — has  developed 
its  best  qualities,  and  will  make  here  a  great  nation — greater 
than  Rome  in  its  best  days — which  shall  be  the  hope  of 
humanity.      (Applause. ) 

You  who  are  here  to-day  celebrating  the  Centennial  of 
one  of  our  many  towns,  are  citizens  of  the  grandest  country  on 


32  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

the  face  of  the  earth.  If  you  and  your  descendants  shall  be 
true  to  the  great  principles  which  animated  the  fathers — for  it 
is  such  as  you  who  are  the  only  sovereigns  we  recognize  in  this 
land  of  ours — the  future  of  our  grand  republic  will  be  safe. 
(Great  applause.) 

The  Chairman — I  have  the  honor  of  introducing  to  you 
another  distinguished  and  progressive  son  of  Poland,  Mr.  E.  P. 
Ricker,  her  greatest  benefactor. 

Mr.  E.  P.  Ricker — Mr.  President,  and  Dear  Friends:  I 
hope  you  do  not  expect  any  extended  remarks  from  me,  for  I 
did  not  come  here  to-day  with  any  intention  of  trying  to  speak. 
I  well  know,  even  were  I  feeling  in  my  best  health,  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  me  to  make  any  address  worthy  of  such  an 
occasion,  and  were  it  not  for  my  love  of  our  forefathers,  and 
the  good  old  town  which  we  have  met  here  to-day  to  honor,  I 
should  be  in  my  bed.  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  say  that  I  am 
glad  to  be  with  you,  even  feeling  as  I  do — to  listen  to  the 
eloquent  remarks  which  we  have  heard  from  our  true  and  loyal 
sons  and  daughters,  and  from  our  honored  friend  whom  we 
have  just  heard,  whose  name  we  one  and  all  love  to  honor, 
and  whose  words  and  acts  are  not  only  known  throughout  the 
world,  but  will  live  in  history  to  the  end  of  time.  (Applause.) 
He  has  given  us  some  facts  in  regard  to  what  has  happened  in 
the  last  hundred  years  in  the  way  of  advancement  and  great 
changes  in  this  country  and  town,  and  pictured  what  may  come 
in  the  next  hundred  years,  before  Poland  has  her  next  Centen- 
nial, providing,  as  he  says,  that  the  dark  predictions  of  Carlyle 
for  America — that  in  1995  the  Republic  will  be  a  thing  of 
the  past — never  come  to  pass:  and  I  agree  with  him  that 
they  never  can.  Then  we  may  look  for  these  great  changes, 
and  I  also  feel  and  believe  that  the  next  hundred  years 
will  see  in  this  good  old  State  of  Maine,  which  is  destined  to 
be  the  great  playground  of  this  country,  more — yes,  tenfold 
more — progress  and  development  than  any  man  can  predict  here 
to-day.  Although  we  are  safe  in  saying  that  not  a  living  soul 
of  to-day  will  be  breathing  the  pure  air  for  which  Poland  is 
noted,  at  her  next  Centennial  (which  I  know  she  will  celebrate, 
for  she  can  always  be  relied  upon  to  play  her  part),  and  while 
many  changes  have  come  since  the  creation  of  this  world,  and 
many  predictions  of  the  great  prophets  have  and  may  come 
true,  Poland  will  be  all  right  in  1995.     (Applause.) 


EDWARD  PAYSON  RICKER. 


34  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

The  Great  Book,  which  is  the  Guiding  Star  of  all  who 
wish  to  find  the  true  road  that  all  should  travel  to  reach 
the  gate  through  which  we  pass  to  solve  the  great  mystery 
— this  Book  tells  ns  that  it  was  two  thousand  years  from  the 
beginning  of  this  world  to  Moses,  and  then  two  thousand  years 
to  our  Saviour,  and  many  of  the  great  prophets  claimed  that  at 
the  end  of  the  next  two  thousand  years  another  great  change 
would  come.  What  that  change  may  be,  no  one  can  tell ;  but  I 
will  prophesy  one  change  that  I  believe  will  come  before  that 
time,  and  that  is,  the  form  of  our  Republican  Government  will 
be  established  throughout  the  world,  for  I  believe  it  to  be  the 
best  and  the  only  one  that  will  stand  to  the  end  of  time;  but  if 
these  prophecies  come  to  pass,  Poland,  with  her  loyal  sons  and 
daughters,  will  be  found  as  true  to  her  ancestors  in  a  hundred 
years  as  to-day,  and  will  still  have  five  years  left  in  which  to 
celebrate  her  second  Centennial. 

With  all  the  happy  remembrances  of  to-day,  and  hoping 
that  we  shall  all  meet  in  spirit  on  our  next  Centennial  day,  I 
will  close  my  few  rambling  remarks  by  drinking  your  health 
in  Poland  Water. 

The  Chairman — I  am  so  closely  related  by  the  ties  of  kin- 
ship to  the  poet  of  this  occasion,  that  modesty  forbids  that  I 
can  say  more  than  that  the  next  number  will  be  rendered  by 
the  Rev.  J.  Albert  Libby,  the  sweet   poet  of  Megquier  Hill. 

Mr.  Libby  then  recited  the  following  original  poem : 

''1795-1895-" 

In  the  old  years,  when  all  about  were  woods. 
Came  our  grandsires  with  their  scanty  goods. 
To  climb  the  different  heights,  and  settle  down 
On  an  old  land  grant,  known  as  Bakerstown. 
Through  strange  vicissitudes,  these  pioneers 
Matched  dauntless  courage  'gainst  foreboding  fears, 
Lords  of  the  falling  forest  to  become, 
Till  bridle  pathways  led  to  many  a  home ; 
The  wives,  as  brave  and  noble  as  the  men, 
Were  not  averse  to  raising  children  then. 
And  soon  the  lusty  lads  and  daughters  born 
Went  forth  to  kill  the  brakes  in  burnt  land  corn. 
Thus,  all  abroad  did  the  hard  toilers  thrive. 


Rev.  J.  ALBERT  LIBBY. 


36  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

Till  came  the  year  of  seventeen  ninety-five. 
When  legal  boundary  lines  were  written  down, 
And  all  within  was  christened  Poland  town. 

Some  things  there  are  which  stay  here,  on  and  on, 
While  many  other  things  away  are  gone, 
As  we  are  gathered  here,  the  Poland  clan, 
Her  history  of  a  hundred  years  to  scan. 

With  your  topographer,  at  first  look  o'er. 

What  others  found  who  came  this  way  of  yore. 

In  shape  and  size  the  ancient  hills  remain, 

Sloping  to  valleys  or  more  level  plain ; 

These  are  the  ponds  that  from  the  heights  we  view, 

O'er  which  the  Indian  pushed  his  light  canoe. 

From  Gilead,  Maine,  down  to  the  sea  beat  coast, 

No  town  o'er  ours  for  beauty  dares  to  boast. 

See,  how  our  highlands  rise  so  broad  and  strong, 

And  range  abreast  the  town's  whole  width  along; 

Old  Johnson  westward  slopes  itself  away 

To  meet  the  waters  of  a  silvery  bay, 

Dotted  with  island.     Then,  in  larger  shape, 

Great  Thompson  sweeps  away,  and  rounds  a  cape 

Another  oval  basin  yet  to  fill. 

Within  the  vale  beneath  Megquier  Hill. 

Megquier  Hill — Megquier  Hill,  so  dear  to  me  thou  art, 

No  other  place  can  ever  thrill  as  thou  dost  all  my  heart, 

Since  on  thy  brow  I  long  have  Hved — yea,  there  I  had  my 
birth— 

Why  should  I  not  a  tribute  give  to  this  bright  spot  of  earth  ? 

Say,  why  not  all  my  powers  raise,  and  breathe  for  it  a  thought 
of  praise. 

Here,  splendid  farms,  all  kept  with  care,  attract  the  gazer's 
eye, 

Their  orchard  groves  with  fruitage  rare  leaning  against  the 
sky, 

The  maples  that  our  hands  have  set,  with  hands  that  now  are 
still. 

Adorn  the  road  with  shapely  tops  along  and  down  the  hill. 

Farm  homes  aback,  though  near  the  street,  are  built  con- 
veniently and  neat  ; 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  37 

Highest  of  all  the  old  church  stands,  so  long  a  sacred  place; 
The  preacher  reads  there  God's  commands,  and  manifests  his 

grace : 
Behind  those  walls  our  many  dead  unconsciously  repose. 
While,  weeping  o'er  each  lowly  bed,  friends  plant  affection's 

rose — 
So,  let  them  sleep — the  saintly  dust  is  watched  by  messengers 

of  trust. 

Our  Black- Cap  stands  against  the  Southern  sky, 
The  king  of  all  our  hills,  of  all  most  high, 
Since  from  his  breezy  height  one  looks  away 
To  see  the  masts  and  spires  of  Casco  Bay; 
The  woodman's  axe  hath  so  forborne  the  stroke, 
That  thus  is  left  his  kingly  crown  and  cloak; 
Corrupt  no  more  his  long-enduring  fame. 
By  giving  him  in  taunt  a  mouser's  name. 

Drop  down  the  slope,  and  up  the  broken  land. 
And  now  on  Bragdon's  smaller  swell  you  stand; 
There  is  no  prettier  place  in  all  the  town, 
To  sketch  a  picture  as  your  eyes  look  down ; 
West  Poland's  little  lake  is  at  its  best, 
Cradled  between  the  hills  in  silent  rest; 
Her  only  island  better  here  is  seen. 
Round  as  a  bowl,  and  dressed  in  summer  green. 
The  village  and  the  churches  farther  on 
You  quickly  follow,  till  your  sight  has  gone 
O'er  many  a  varying  landscape,  and  come  down 
Into  the  valley  of  old  Oxford  town. 

If,  through  a  gorge  of  woods  w^e  find  our  way, 

Oak  Hill  invites  us  for  a  little  stay, 

Her  own  peculiar  beauties  for  the  eye 

In  many  senses  other  bluffs  outvie. 

She  seems  apart  from  other  heights  we  found, 

And  thus  our  vision  searcheth  all  around; 

Old  Thompson  glitters  some  beyond  the  trees, 

His  triplet  sister  we  behold  with  ease, 

While  down  the  eastern  way  the  sight  may  sweep, 

To  find  her  sister  lake  below  the  steep; 

From  other  heights  around,  you  here  may  scan, 


3*  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

What  other  hills  have  not — a  Vatican, 

At  which,  if  you  will  climb  o'er  either  slope, 

You  may  at  times  be  sure  to  see  the  Pope. 

Well,  we  are  up,  so  let  us  not  stray  down. 
Till  we  have  glanced  o'er  every  hill  in  town; 
We  had  a  Pidgeon  Hill.     One  sorry  day 
She  spread  her  wings,  and  fled  from  us  away; 
'T  was  hard  to  see  her  go,  but  never  mind. 
Since  sterile  **  Rabbit  Valley"  skipped  behind. 

Harris  and  Bailey,  both  arise  together, 

And  keep  so  near  they  have  one  kind  of  weather — 

The  only  elevations  here  in  town 

Reaching  each  other  without  diving  down. 

Unless  it  be  the  Ricker  Hill  and  range, 

Which  come  around  together  somewhat  strange; 

Our  Shaker  Hill  is  seen  beyond  the  two — 

Its  lofty  granite  block  the  first  to  view ; 

Why  went  the  family  to  the  town  below  ? 

Was  it  because  we  towns-folk  marry  so  ? 

The  Ricker  Hill,  what  early  used  to  be, 

Must  now  be  known  with  all  antiquity, 

Though  hidden  in  the  mansion  pile,  we  know. 

Is  the  old  house  of  ten  decades  ago. 

So  changed  about  has  everything  become 

From  what  was  once  each  owner's  old-time  home; 

The  living  spring,  however,  yet  remains. 

The  one  unfailing  source  of  all  the  gains; 

And  all  the  marvels  later  time  has  wrought. 

With  all  the  thousands  each  new  year  hath  brought. 

'T  is  not  for  lengthy  prose,  or  poetry. 

To  tell  these  changes  all,  so  go  and  see. 

Survey  the  grounds,  and  scan  the  Gothic  walls. 

Walk  the  verandas,  tread  the  spacious  halls, 

Climb  the  long  stair-ways,  tire  to  count  the  rooms. 

Pass  on  and  upward  to  the  lofty  domes, 

And  look  away  to  far  Mount  Washington, 

Whose  shoulders  oft  the  clouds  come  down  upon ; 

See  all  the  mountains  piled  apart,  and  large, 

Mount  Pleasant,  and  beyond,  old  Kearsarge; 

Bold  Streaked,  nearer,  on  the  right  looks  down ; 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  39 

On  all  the  parts  that  make  up  Hebron  Town. 
Below,  as  well  as  from  our  many  hills, 
Surpassing  beauty  all  the  vision  fills, 
Their  lovely  water  sheet  the  sight  will  please, 
A  mirror  for  the  clouds  and  towering  trees. 

And  here  the  eyes  of  all  may  be  made  glad  • 

In  seeing  what  from  Maine,  Chicago  had, 

The  hand  of  enterprise,  and  thoughtful  care. 

Marked  well  the  appointments  of  our  building  there, 

And,  all  the  way  it  came,  and  rose  at  length, 

A  gem  for  thousands  here,  in  massive  strength. 

Flow  on,  health-giving  water,  so  we  sing; 

Laugh  at  the  wonders  round  thee,  Poland  Spring, 

From  hidden  depths,  thine  ever  gushing  tide 

Shall  be  the  people's  joy,  each  townsman's  pride. 

Cheers  for  the  Rickers,  in  prosperity. 
The  same  old  Poland  boys  they  used  to  be ; 
And  cheers  for  all  our  towns-folk,  old  and  young. 
Let  Hip,  Hip,  Hip,  Hurrah !  leave  every  tongue. 

Aback  the  river's  bank  for  miles  away. 

Our  Eastern  border  lands  more  level  lay. 

And  here  the  busy  farmer  gladly  stays. 

Often  to  boast  of  his  more  even  ways; 

He  may  not  need,  like  us,  his  side-hill  plow. 

His  roads  are  easier,  often,  anyhow ; 

The  rail  cars,  too,  may  glide  anear  his  door. 

They  thread  the  valleys  which  the  hills  look  o'er; 

These  also  say,  who  stay  on  level  ground. 

We  do  not  live  by  looking  off  around; 

The  lowland  dwellers  of  our  town  are  few 

That  are  not  looked  upon  as  well-to-do. 

Hardscrabble  much  deceives  us  by  its  name  ; 
The  farms  are  excellent,  their  owners  claim. 
And  look  in  length  and  breadth  the  Empire  o'er, 
Where  all  the  lands  for  seed-time  well  restore. 
Elmwood  is  here,  where  Sanborn  oft  prefers 
His  country  quiet  to  the  city's  stirs. 
That  Sanborn  coffee — let  us  every  one 
Be  glad  that  Boston  lends  us  such  a  son. 


40  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

There  is  no  town  with  every  rod  for  clover 

When  each  was  made,  there  seemed  somewhat  left  over 

In  sandy  piles,  or  plains,  or  boggy  fen  ; 

And  here  we  find  such  places  now  and  then, 

If  we  were  driven,  though,  with  cash  in  hand 

Neglected  places  might  be  garden-land. 

Our  villages  are  small — we  own  the  fact — 
They  may  be  larger,  though,  with  grit  and  tact ; 
New  York  was  little  once,  and  Boston,  too  ; 
Now  they  are  large,  with  just  what  man  can  do. 
We  should  not  feel  discouraged,  nor  be  cross. 
Since  we  may  see  at  length  the  gain  of  loss, 
In  that  our  larger  villa  on  a  day 
To  make  a  little  town  was  cut  away  ; 
Peace,  as  a  queen,  had  ruled  our  people  well, 
Till  when  at  first,  a  few  thought  to  rebel. 
Counsel  from  older  heads  was  all  in  vain 
The  younger  rash  Confederates  to  restrain. 
Reason  and  some  contention  well  we  used, 
Only  to  have  our  arguments  abused  ; 
We  loved  our  larger  village,  and  its  name, 
And  with  reluctance  thought  to  lose  the  same  ; 
But  when  a  boy  is  bound  to  thrash  his  mother. 
Say,  what's  the  use  with  such  a  chap  to  bother  ? 
He'd  better  leave  the  home,  and  have  his  way, 
And  learn  his  error  in  a  future  day. 
However,  since  the  deed  has  now  been  done, 
We  must  forgive  and  love  our  absent  son. 
Let  us  not  listen  to  the  man  that  whines, 
But  lift  at  progress  all  along  our  lines. 
We  are  improving,  and  not  going  down, 
Since  a  new  house  for  every  man  in  town 
We  gladly  enter  as  we  gather  here 
At  Poland  Corner  this  centennial  year  ; 
And,  say  you,  fellow  townsmen,  one  and  all. 
Shall  we  not  call  the  room  Centennial  Hall  ? 

The  bugle  call  our  Poland  heard  from  far. 
And  filled  her  quotas  for  the  Civil  War  ; 
Two  hundred  fifty-seven  sons  went  forth, 
The  enlisted,  and  the  chosen  men  of  worth ; 


POLAND   CENTENNIAL.  41 

They  fought,  and  many  fell  among  the  braves, 
And,  where  they  sleep,  let  honor  crown  their  graves. 

Our  town  has  been  religious,  it  appears, 

Through  all  her  history  of  a  hundred  years. 

The  Methodists  at  first  possessed  the  field — 

As  they  no  doubt  would  be  the  last  to  yield; 

Their  noble  task  has  been,  early  and  late, 

To  watch  their  ground  and  keep  the  Empire  straight. 

The  Orthodox  then  came  and  took  position, 

To  keep  P.  Comer  people  from  perdition ; 

How  well  they  have  succeeded  will  be  known. 

When  all  the  books  are  opened  at  the  throne. 

West  Poland  all  round,  joining  with  Oak  Hill, 

Established  churches  early,  called  Free- Will — 

That  is,  the  Gospel  hath  for  all  a  voice, 

Take  Jesus  or  the  Devil — make  your  choice. 

One  pastor  preached  for  fifty  years  in  town, 

Then,  on  his  shield  untarnished,  laid  him  down. 

Thus  what  sweet  memories  in  many  a  mind 

Elder  James  Libby,  dying,  left  behind. 

Many  there  be  who  are  not  over  bold. 

And  yet,  religiously  this  thought  they  hold. 

That  God  so  loves  us — even  in  our  sin, 

That  He  will  have  us,  if  He  whips  us  in. 

Another  class  among  us,  be  it  said, 

Holdeth  the  faith  that  man  when  dead,  is  dead — 

And  that  a  resurrection  must  obtain. 

Before  a  life  immortal  he  can  gain ; 

But  not  for  what  we  think,  or  here,  or  there. 

Shall  we  be  judged — but,  just  for  what  we  are. 

The  places  where  we  put  our  dead. 

We  walk  with  reverential  tread ; 

And  this  is  well — it  shows  our  faith, 

**  That  Life  is  ever  Lord  of  death." 

In  far  off  Egypt,  we  are  told. 

They  would  embalm  their  dead  of  old. 

From  quick  corruption  keeping  whole 

The  body  for  the  wandering  soul. 

We  are  not  careful  thus  to  do — 

But  hi4e  them  with  our  tears  from  view 


42  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

In  better  faith,  that  while  they  sleep, 
Our  God  His  precious  ones  will  keep 
Till  His  great  promised  after-day, 
When  they  shall  leap  from  dust  away. 
Our  oldest  graveyard,  I  suspect, 
Some  think  is  left  to  cold  neglect — 
But,  since  now  overgrown  with  woods, 
And  left  to  Nature's  solitudes — 
'Twere  well,  I  think,  to  guard  the  spot, 
That  careless  hands  might  mar  it  not — 
And  leave  the  trees  o'er  these  long  gone, 
Where  year  by  year  the  birds  sing  on. 

Much  as  the  birds  are  found,  year  after  year. 

In  their  old  nesting  places,  held  so  dear, 

The  offspring  of  the  early  sires  and  dames 

Keep  the  old  homes  that  had  their  fathers'  names. 

Nathaniel  Bailey  settled  first  in  town, 

And  so  his  name  through  all  the  years  comes  down. 

Thus,  Emery,  Pulsifer,  Nason,  Lane,  and  Dunn, 

Megquier,  Strout,  and  True,  the  century  here  begun ; 

Davis  and  Ricker,  Libby,  Briggs,  and  Rowe, 

Snell,  Femald,  Waterhouse,  were  of  long  ago. 

But  time  would  fail  me  to  recount  the  more 

That  through  the  later  years  I  might  tell  o'er. 

The  century  through  we  barely  keep  some  names — 
Femald  hath  John  and  Joseph,  Albert  M.  and  James; 
The  Gerry s,  once  among  us  all  about, 
When  H.  A.  goes  his  way,  have  all  run  out. 
Once,  too,  the  Browns  on  all  our  roads  were  met. 
And  so,  a  few,  we  find,  are  hustling  yet; 
But  soon,  I  fear,  this  name  extinct  will  be. 
Since  in  their  homes  no  Brown  boys  can  we  see. 
The  Walker  tribe,  once  numerous  and  strong. 
Hath  dwindled  toward  extinction  years  along, 
So  many,  loved  and  worthy,  went  from  town, 
i  Long  since,  on  Western  soil  to  settle  down. 

We  hail  a  dear  old  neighbor  here  to-day, 
Whose  heart  is  with  us  for  a  little  stay. 
The  Walker  name  may  not  from  Poland  drift, 
Since  Forrest  bends  to  give  another  lift. 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  43 

We  Stretch  our  strongest  arms,  to-day,  to  take 
The  hands  of  many  with  a  cordial  shake. 
Who  come  so  gladly  their  regards  to  show 
For  the  old  town  they  lived  in  years  ago. 
Thrice  welcome  back !     We  still  have  ample  means 
To  cloy  your  hunger  with  brown  bread  and  beans. 
We  may  not  have  long  time  for  conversation. 
But  hail  you  happy  to  our  jubilation. 

Sons  of  our  home-land — daughters,  too,  of  such — 
There  many  are  our  voices  may  not  touch ; 
To  whom  w^e  reach  no  greeting  hand  to-day, 
Ye  are  so  scattered,  and  so  far  away. 
But,  though  expatriation  be  your  lot, 
The  home  of  earlier  times  is  ne'er  forgot; 
And  oft  reviewals  of  old  scenes  gone  by, 
Will  sadden  memory  and  make  moist  the  eye. 

Nor  would  we  here  neglect  our  aged  ones. 
Whose  homes  are  kept  with  daughters  fond,  or  sons; 
West  Poland  all  about  with  pride  reveres 
Aunt  Hannah  Snell,  of  three-and-ninety  years; 
While  down  through  Herrick  Valley's  pleasant  way, 
Lives  our  old  graveyard  sexton,  Moses  A., 
His  four-score  years  and  ten  he  doesn't  mind, 
But  trots  about,  and  leaves  them  all  behind. 

So,  .Poland  Corner  doubtless  will  declare, 
She  has  the  best  of  life-preserving  air. 
Since  here  are  quite  a  number,  it  appears, 
Who  tell  their  ages  over  four-score  years : 
Think  of  Aunt  Lucy  M.,  of  White  Oak  Hill, 
At  eighty-seven  the  queen  of  housework  still; 
And  Uncle  William  Schellenger  well  knows 
When  all  in  town  walked  in  their  baby  clothes; 
Our  Auntie  Emery,  now  at  eighty-four, 
Waits  for  the  angel  at  the  shining  door; 
Thus  all  ye  aged  ones,  or  weak  or  strong, 
Pray  back  for  us  who  follow  you  along. 

From  love  fraternal,  ere  we  go  apart, 

Listen  to  catch  some  words  to  help  the  heart — 

Before  the  God  our  parents  honored  so. 


44  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

Let  US  be  mindful  that  we  bow  as  low. 
In  the  rude  hut  the  blessed  book  was  read — 
And  glad  thanks  offered  o'er  the  daily  bread ; 
Our  godly  mothers,  and  their  mothers,  too, 
Leaned  by  the  trundle-bed,  when  day  was  through. 
To  teach  the  children  soon  to  fall  asleep. 
To  pray  unto  the  Lord  their  souls  to  keep ; 
Their  early  breathings,  and  their  holy  trust. 
Should  be  our  comfort,  as  they  lie  in  dust. 

Have  we  considered,  as  we  meet  to-day. 
How  little  is  a  life — how  short  our  stay? 
A  hundred  bygone  years  we  can  review; 
The  coming  days  of  time  to  us  are  few. 
Let  us  be  loyal  to  our  earth-bom  King, 
Who  after  Him  the  eternal  age  will  bring. 

The  Chairaian — The  next  toast  is  ''Poland's  Progress," 
and  will  be  responded  to  by  a  loyal  young  son  of  Poland  from 
Johnson  Hill,  Mr.  Frank  E.  Hanscom. 

Frank  E.  Haxscom  —  Mr.  President,  Fellow-citizens, 
Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  We  are  told  that  from  the  fulness  of 
the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh,  but  I  should  fail  in  justice  to  the 
gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me,  did  I  not  add  that  some 
mouths  can  speak  equally  well  from  the  fulness  of  the  stomach. 
However,  it  may  be,  I  feel  myself  to  be  much  in  the  condition 
of  Charles  Lamb,  on  an  occasion  similar  to  this,  when  he 
likened  himself  to  a  pepper-box,  which  he  said  was  full  of 
material  but  of  poor  delivery. 

It  is  an  eternal  law  of  nature  that  nothing  can  remain  at  a 
standstill.  Ever}'thing  must  move  forward  or  backward.  We 
stand,  to-day,  upon  the  threshold  of  a  new  century,  and,  as  we 
look  backward  through  the  long  vista  of  a  hundred  years,  it 
seems  fitting  that  we  ask  ourselves  whether  we  have  been 
gradually  and  positively  moving  forward,  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  the  times,  or  the  reverse.  "  Distance  lends 
enchantment "  here,  as  elsewhere.  It  is  quite  natural,  I  know, 
to  quote  the  *'good  old  times,"  to  magnify  the  few  homely 
joys,  while  we  pass  lightly  over  the  struggles  and  privations  of 
those  who  planted  amid  dangers  and  hardships,  that  we  might 
reap,  in  joy  and  peace,  the  fruits  of  their  early  sacrifice  and 
toil. 


FRANK  E.  HANSCOM. 


46  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

One  hundred  years  forms  no  insignificant  period  in  the 
history  of  the  human  race.  Scarcely  four  such  periods  have 
elapsed  since  the  report  of  the  Pinta's  gun  awoke  the  slumber- 
ing echoes  of  a  new  world,  while  one  and  one-fifth  such  periods 
make  up  the  sum  total  of  our  national  existence. 

Poland  can  boast  of  no  mushroom  growth.  She  did  not 
flash  before  the  gaze  of  the  world  like  a  meteor,  to  vanish  in 
darkness  as  suddenly  as  she  came ;  but  in  that  grand  constella- 
tion of  towns,  called  Maine,  whose  motto  is  **  Dirigo, "  she  has 
ever  shone  with  a  steady  light,  and  I  predict  that  she  will  not 
only  retain  her  place,  but  continue  to  shine  with  increasing 
brilliancy  down  through  the  ages.  If  we  turn  back  the  pages 
of  our  history,  and  compare  the  Poland  of  a  century  ago  with 
the  Poland  of  to-day,  how  marvelous  must  seem  the  change. 
Yet  so  slowly  and  gradually  has  this  transformation  been 
wrought  as  to  remain  almost  unnoticed  by  the  quiet,  industri- 
ous people  of  our  little  municipality.  The  narrow  foot-path 
has  widened  to  the  broad  nnd  well-kept  highway.  Orchards 
and  gardens,  cultivated  fields  and  green  pasture  lands  have 
long  since  taken  the  place  of  the  thick  and  gloomy  forest.  The 
stones,  so  thickly  scattered  by  Nature's  lavish  hand,  have  been 
heaped  into  rock  fences,  as  lasting  as  the  hills,  which  mark  the 
boundaries  of  farms.  The  humble  cottage  with  its  rude 
furnishings  has  given  way  to  the  spacious  well-kept  country 
home.  The  railroad  has  pushed  its  way  across  our  borders,  and 
the  shriek  of  the  locomotive  has  frightened  the  wild  beast  to  a 
more  secluded  lair.  The  school-house  and  the  church,  those 
sacred  parents  of  our  modern  New  England  civilization,  joined 
hands  in  the  wilderness,  and  have  traveled  side  by  side,  keep- 
ing in  touch  with  that  spirit  of  moral  and  intellectual  progress 
so  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  nineteenth  century.  From  a 
little  bubbling  fountain  in  the  forest,  we  have  watched  the 
growth  and  development  of  an  institution  that  has  caused 
Poland  and  Poland  Spring  to  become  familiar  names  through- 
out the  length  and  breadth  of  the  civilized  world. 

While  the  above  changes  have  been  taking  place  within 
the  limits  of  our  little  township,  how  many  important  and 
wonderful  events  have  transpired  in  the  world  at  large  !  In 
what  a  multitude  of  ways  have  the  means  of  pleasure  and  com- 
fort been  multiplied!  How  rapidly  have  books  and  other 
means  of  acquiring  knowledge  been  increased  !     What  marvel- 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  47 

ous  progress  has  been  made  in  the  arts  and  sciences  !  How 
wonderful  has  been  the  growth  and  spread  of  religious  and 
political  freedom !  All  of  which  have  influenced,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  the  destiny  of  our  town  and  its  people. 

While  speaking  of  Poland's  development,  we  should  not 
forget  that  she  has  given  freely  of  her  acres  to  those  of  her 
children  who  preferred  to  try  their  fortunes  beyond  the  limits 
of  her  maternal  jurisdiction.  No  mother  was  ever  more 
generous  with  her  daughters  than  Poland  has  been  with  those 
youthful  towns  which  preferred  to  set  up  housekeeping  for 
themselves;  but,  like  all  wise  parents,  she  has  ever  kept, 
securely  locked  in  her  strong  box  of  treasures,  the  title  deed  to 
the  old  homestead. 

Poland's  thrift  and  increase  of  wealth  is  strikingly  shown 
in  the  gradual  increase  in  the  valuation  of  the  town  during  the 
past  fifty  years,  an  increase  surpassed  by  few  towns  having  so 
few  facilities  for  manufacturing  industries.  When  we  consider 
that  during  this  time  the  increase  in  population  has  been  very 
slight,  that  our  country  has  passed  through  a  gigantic  civil 
war,  in  which  many  of  our  best  citizens  laid  down  their  lives 
in  defence  of  the  nation's  flag  and  the  nation's  honor;  when 
we  consider  the  enormous  taxes  paid  for  war  purposes,  and  the 
fact  that  Poland  has,  during  this  time,  set  off  to  other  towns, 
territory  now  valued  at  more  than  a  million  dollars,  we  can  feel 
naught  but  thankfulness  at  our  continuous  financial  prosperity. 

We  have  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of,  but  much  to  be  proud 
of,  in  the  record  of  our  town.  She  has  trained  hundreds  of 
men  who  have  gone  out  into  life  and  held  their  own  amid  the 
rush  and  bustle  of  the  outside  world,  while  those  who  have 
remained  at  home  belong  to  a  class  which  has  been  honored 
and  respected  since  the  "flight  of  years  began, "  the  honest, 
hard  working  peasantry  of  our  land. 

That  Poland  is  a  good  place  in  which  to  be  bom,  those 
who  are  with  us  to-day,  after  years  of  absence,  bringing  palms 
of  victory  from  conflicts  with  the  outside  world,  will  gladly 
testify ;  that  it  is  a  good  place  in  which  to  live,  we  who  are 
content  to  spend  our  lives  here  can  give  abundant  assurance ; 
and,  if  the  shades  of  the  departed  who  rest  on  its  many  verdant 
hillsides,  could  come  back  to  us  on  this  the  anniversary  of  our 
natal  day,  I  have  little  doubt  they  could  furnish  conclusive 
evidence  that  Poland  is  a  good  place  in  which  to  die. 


48  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

Then  let  us  be  more  loyal  to  old  Poland.  While  we  pause 
at  this,  our  one  hundredth  milestone,  let  us  take  upon  our- 
selves a  vow  to  be  true  to  the  past  and  faithful  to  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  the  present ;  let  us  read  aright  those 
lessons  of  struggle  and  achievement  taught  by  our  ancestors 
in  those  early  days  of  hardship  and  privation  ;  let  us  place  our 
shoulders  to  the  wheel  of  progress,  and  strive  with  our  united 
efforts  to  increase  the  rapidity  of  its  revolutions;  and  may  we 
ever  feel  to  say  of  Poland  what  one  of  our  best-loved  poets  has 
well  said  of  our  grand  old  State : 

**  Keep  who  will  the  city's  alleys, 

Take  the  smooth,  shorn  plain, 
Give  to  us  the  cedar  valleys, 

Rocks  and  hills  of  Maine. 
In  our  north  land,  wild  and  woody, 

Let  us  still  have  part ; 
Rugged  muse  and  mother  sturdy. 

Fold  us  to  thy  heart. " 

The  Chairman — Let  me  now  introduce  the  Rev.  Frederick 
Newport,  who  will  read  a  poem,  entitled  ''Greeting  to 
Poland,"  composed  by  Mrs.  Louise  M.  Waterhouse. 

By  way  of  introduction  Mr.  Newport  remarked  that  this 
was  the  only  literary  tribute  from  the  daughters  of  Poland, 
and  inasmuch  as  the  author  was  too  modest  to  read  her  poem, 
he  felt  honored  in  being  allowed  to  stand  behind  the 
manuscript. 

GREETING    TO  '  POLAND. 

I  sing  of  Poland.     On  this  natal  day, 

When  regally  she  wears  the  crown  of  age, 

I,  her  adopted  child,  would  join  my  lay 

With  his,  who  owns  by  birth,  his  heritage. 

For  our  fair  mother  is  all  honor  meet 

On  this,  her  crowning  day  of  all  the  year  ; 

When  sons  and  daughters  heartily  will  greet 

Dear  old-time  friends  who  come  to  give  her  cheer. 

For  just  as  brightly  do  her  waters  gleam, 

And  just  as  grandly  hills  uprear  their  forms  ; 

On  her  fair  face  no  deeply  furrowed  seam 
Proclaims  the  ravages  of  winter  storms. 


Mrs.  LOUISE  M.   WATERHOUSE. 


50 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

Her  lakes  lie  smiling  in  the  sunlight  still  ; 

Her  leaves  dance  merrily  on  every  tree  ; 
And  all  the  waters  of  each  sparkling  rill 

Haste  with  their  old-time  fervor  to  the  sea. 

On  yonder  stately  hill,  by  magic  rose 

A  palace  beautiful,  with  tower  and  wing; 

And  near  it  in  a  lovely  nook  there  flows, 

From  riven  rock,  the  source  of  this — the  spring. 

Its  waters  pure,  unrivalled  thus  far  stand ; 

In  healing  power  they're  said  to  have  no  peer ; 
Securely  cased,  they're  sent  o'er  all  our  land. 

They  seek,  by  steam,  another  hemisphere. 

While  modestly,  within  a  lordly  grove. 

There  hides  *'a  poem  wrought  in  living  stone," 

Maine's  tribute  when  each  nation  vainly  strove 
To  outshine  ours — as  yet  she  yields  to  none. 

And  of  West  Poland's  beauty  I  would  sing. 
Of  fair  Megquier  Hill,  with  lovely  street, 

Whose  rows  of  shapely  trees  cool  shadows  bring, 
While  sunny  lakelets  gleam  in  summer's  heat. 

And  all  this  beauty  does  not  ''blush  unseen," 

As  many  a  city's  child  can  testify ; 
So,  too,  the  prosperous  home  of  farmer  Keene, 

And,  no  less  tasteful,  of  his  son,  near  by. 

East  Poland,  where  her  ancient  elm  trees  swing 
Their  graceful  branches  over  fertile  farms; 

Where  Sanborn  and  his  famous  horses  bring 
New  life  and  beauty  to  old  Poland's  charms. 

Yet  Poland  has  resources  of  her  own, 

As  well  Excelsior  Grange  can  witness  bear ; 

In  gayly  decorated  teams  it  shone, 

A  goodly  company  at  our  Maine  State  Fair. 

You  all  can  see  Poland's  chief  village  here, 

And  how  she  helps  to  swell  New  England's  fame; 

A  Switzerland  of  America  is  here, 

Our  nestling  village  well  deserves  its  claim. 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  51 

Nor  these  home  charms  are  all  of  Poland's  flock. 
Mechanic  Falls,  our  sister  village,  too, 

Is  but  an  oflEspring  from  our  parent  stock, 
So,  too,  is  Auburn,  busy  with  the  shoe. 

These  children,  thrifty,  prosperous,  atone 

For  all  the  trouble  they  have  caused  their  Ma; 

At  last  they're  strong  enough  to  stand  alone, 
Yet  owe  their  birthright  to  the  Poland  star. 

O  fellow  townsmen,  let  us  gain  new  life 

From  this  Centennial  Day  we  celebrate! 

Let's  join  our  forces  with  new  vigor  rife 

To  make  our  Mother  town  most  truly  great! 

And  not  alone  in  well-kept  homes,  nor  yet 

In  outward  symbols  of  fair  beauty  reared. 

May  every  form  of  public  wrong  be  met 
By  officers  of  right  who  shall  be  feared. 

In  all  the  great  debates  for  public  weal. 
Let  Poland  utter  no  uncertain  sound! 

May  she  be  strong  and  fearless — true  as  steel, 
In  the  front  ranks  of  Progress  always  found. 

Then  hail  to  Poland,  whose  grand  scenery  fills 
Each  son  and  daughter  with  a  filial  pride! 

Dear  to  each  heart  are  all  her  rocks  and  rills. 
Long  may  her  honor  in  each  heart  abide ! 

The  Chairman — It  is  my  pleasure  now  to  present  to  you, 
a  young  man,  a  native  of  our  town,  who  has  long  been  identi- 
fied with  its  educational  interests,  to  respond  to  the  toast, 
** Our  Public  Schools." 

R.  J.  Everett — To-day  we  are  at  the  close  of  the  first 
century  of  our  town's  life.  Janus-like,  we  look  backward  over 
the  chequered  past — forward  to  the  unknown.  And  when  we 
remember  how  important  a  factor  have  been  our  public  schools 
in  the  development  and  progress  of  our  town,  how  much  is 
due  to  them  of  our  prosperity,  and  our  position  to-day  among 
our  sister  towns,  we  may  with  propriety,  while  considering 
our  condition  and  contemplating  the  many  changes  of  the  past 
one  hundred  years,  give  a  few  moments  to  this  source  of  our 
welfare.     We  may  with  profit  recall   the  early  and  meagre 


52  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

beginnings  of  our  town's  school  days,  the  hard  but  earnest 
struggles  of  our  sturdy  ancestors  in  their  endeavors  to  give  to 
their  children  the  rudiments  of  an  education.  Following  the 
current  of  years,  we  should  find  our  schools  increasing  in  num- 
ber, length,  and  efficiency — a  slow  but  steady  progress  till  our 
own  memory  serves  us  in  what  we.  may  term  the  present. 
Thus  data  may  be  obtained  from  which  we  shall  be  the  better 
able  to  judge  of  their  condition  to-day,  and  the  better  to  per- 
form our  part  in  developing  the  school  life  of  the  future. 

I  wish,  my  friends,  that  it  were  in  my  power  to  hold  to 
you  a  picture  of  that  first  class,  surrounding  that  first  teacher 
— the  pioneer  school  of  Poland.  I  would  that  I  were  able  to 
bring  to  view  that  first  school -house,  rising  from  the  hillside, 
humble  in  its  quaint  simplicity,  yet  heralding  to  coming  gen- 
erations the  determination  of  a  hardy  people  to  secure  at  all 
hazards  something  of  an  education  for  the  children  of  their 
generation.  My  friends,  this  is  impossible;  that  school  has 
long  since  been  closed  here  upon  earth.  That  school-house 
has  long  ago  crumbled  to  decay,  and  no  summer  tourist  was 
there  with  obtrusive  camera  to  preserve  for  us  a  likeness.  Yet 
each  one  of  us  may  form  a  mental  picture,  and  thank  God  for 
that  first  school.  An  almost  impenetrable  haze  overhangs  the 
early  history  of  our  schools,  no  records  being  in  existence  to 
which  we  might  turn.  Fragments  have  been  gleaned  from 
the  recollections  of  a  few  of  our  older  people,  making  the  total 
of  our  early  school  history. 

As  was  the  case  in  other  sections  of  the  State,  the  first 
schools  were  held  in  private  houses,  wherever  and  whenever 
convenience  and  population  would  permit.  In  some  localities 
the  schools  were  held  thus  for  many  years  after  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  town.  In  all  there  were  seven  or  eight  of  these 
schools  within  the  present  limits  of  our  town,  held  somewhat 
irregularly  for  a  few  weeks  every  year. 

Although  some  doubf  exists  in  regard  to  the  exact  date 
and  location  of  the  first  school-house,  it  seems  very  certain  that 
the  first  house  was  built  as  early  as  1802  or  1803  at  South 
Poland,  at  the  four  corners,  between  Ricker  Hill  and  Shaker 
Hill.  Several  years  later,  that  it  might  be  nearer  the  centre 
of  the  district,  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Shakers,  this  house 
was  moved  further  north  and  located  on  Ricker  Hill.  This 
house,  at  first,  and  for  several  years,  accommodated  the  people 


R.  J.   EVERETT. 


54  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

of  Range  Hill,  Ricker  Hill,  and  the  near  portion  of  New 
Gloucester.  The  present  neat  and  commodious  house  is  the 
fourth  in  this  district. 

The  first  school -house  on  Range  Hill  was  built  not  far 
from  1815,  near  the  residence  of  F.  B.  Shackford.  In  1840,  a 
house  was  built  on  the  Raymond  Road,  near  the  dwelling  of 
A.  G.  Thurlow,  and  in  187 1  the  present  house  was  erected. 

West  Poland,  as  a  school  district,  was  made  up  of  the 
entire  western  part  of  the  town,  including  the  West  Poland  of 
to-day,  Johnson  Hill,  Megquier  Hill,  and  No.  15,  Herrick 
Valley,  extending  to  the  Oxford  line.  The  first  school-house 
(1805)  was  built  just  north  of  the  church,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  road.  Previous  to  the  erection  of  this  house,  the  school, 
for  many  years,  was  held  in  the  dwelling  house  of  Edmund 
Megquier.  The  school  here  is  now  occupying  its  third  house. 
In  1826,  the  district  was  divided,  and  a  school-house  was  built 
in  what  is  now  known  as  No.  15.  Not  until  several  years  later 
was  a  school-house  erected  in  the  Promised  Land.  The  first 
school-house  in  the  section  known  as  ''The  Empire,"  was 
located  south  of  the  church,  and  on  the  hill  now  included  in 
the  Cemetery.  This  house,  built  in  1808,  accommodated  not 
only  the  present  Empire  district,  but  also  the  *'city,"  the  por- 
tion of  New  Gloucester  as  far  as  Bald  Hill,  and  the  part  of 
Danville  known  as  the  Hotel  Road.  The  first  school-house 
was  burned;  a  second  erected  on  the  same  site  was  sold,  as 
was  also  the  third  house,  built  further  north,  near  the  four 
corners.  The  present  house,  built  some  six  years  ago,  is  the 
fourth  in  this  district.  About  this  time  (1808),  or  perhaps  a 
little  earlier,  a  school-house  was  built  just  east  of  the  Cemetery 
and  beyond  the  dwelling  of  Mr.  Zenas  Lane,  at  East  Poland, 
and  was  used  by  the  people  of  Minot  Corner  (Poland  side), 
Hardscrabble,  Hackett's  Mills  and  East  Poland.  In  1846,  this 
house  gave  place  to  the  "  brick  "  house  located  near  the  Little 
Androscoggin  River,  and  used  as  a  union  house  by  District 
No.  8,  Poland,  and  No.  2,  Minot.  This  house  in  turn  gave 
place,  in  1868,  to  the  present  two-storied  house,  still  occupied 
by  the  pupils  of  Minot  and  Poland. 

On  Harris  Hill  the  first  school-house  was  located  nearly 
opposite  Nelson  Haskell's,  on  land  now  owned  by  W.  W. 
McCann.  To  this  house  came  for  a  few  years  the  children 
from  Bailey  Hill,  Harris  Hill  and  Poland  Corner.     This  house 


POLAND   CENTENNIAL.  55 

was  removed  to  the  present  site,  near  Grange  Hall,  probably 
about  1825. 

The  first  school-house  on  Bailey  Hill  (1815)  was  built  across 
the  road  from  the  present  site,  in  what  is  now  a  pasture  belong- 
ing to  A.  B.  Cobb.  This  house  was  burned;  the  present  being 
the  third  house  in  this  district. 

In  1850,  Poland  Comer  built  its  first  school -house,  the  old 
town-house  having  been  fitted  up  and  used  for  school  purposes 
since  the  withdrawal  from  Harris  Hill. 

For  many  years  White  Oak  Hill  was  the  school  centre  for  all 
the  territory  lying  between  the  Range  and  Tripp  Ponds.  The 
first  school-house,  built  about  181 1,  was  located  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  east  of  the  present  church  in  the  ''heater"  piece,  lying 
between  the  road  leading  to  Lower  Oak  Hill  and  the  one  lead- 
ing to  Poland  Corner.  This  house  was  burned  in  181 7. 
Another  was  erected  on  the  same  site,  but  as  the  result  of 
some  disagreement  this  house  was  taken  down,  moved  a  few 
rods  west,  and  rebuilt  in  what  is  now  David  Waterhouse's 
pasture.  This  house  was  again  moved  in  1845  to  the  present 
locality. 

For  some  years  after  separation  from  the  parent  oak.  Lower 
Oak  Hill  enjoyed  its  school  privileges  in  the  dwelling  house  of 
Jeremiah  Witham,  near  the  location  of  the  present  school- 
house.  The  first  school-house  was  built  south  of  the  Town 
Farm  on  land  now  the  property  of  Mr.  John  Hanscom. 

During  the  first  years,  the  three  R's,  spelling,  together 
with  sewing  in  some  instances  for  the  girls,  were  the  general 
course  of  study.  Geography  and  grammar  came  cautiously 
forward  in  the  next  twenty-five  years — these  making  the  full 
course  in  my  own  childhood.  No  particular  change,  except 
the  introduction  of  algebra,  with  an  occasional  class  in  book- 
keeping some  twenty  years  since,  was  made,  until  the  thorough 
classification  and  adoption  of  a  regular  course  of  study  six  years 
ago  by  our  esteemed  townsman,  Mr.  Frank  E.  Hanscom. 

Now,  after  the  union  of  some  districts,  the  division  and 
loss  of  others,  we  have  seventeen  schools — one  being  graded, 
two  free  high  schools,  and  the  others  ungraded — mixed.  The 
length  of  our  school  year  has  been  doubled,  while  the  wages 
paid  to  our  teachers  have  been  more  than  quadrupled  since  the 
memory  of  many  now  present. 

By  glancing  at  our  course  of  study  you  will  find  that  to  the 


56  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

few  branches  constituting  for  so  many  years  the  entire  school 
curriculum,  we  have  now  added  physiology,  rhetoric,  geometry, 
physical  geography,  a  year's  course  in  civil  government,  work 
in  composition  and  declamation,  besides  in  many  of  our  schools 
a  careful  course  in  supplementary  reading,  designed  particu- 
larly to  instruct  the  child  in  morals  and  to  guide  him  toward 
honored  citizenship. 

And  here  it  may  be  asked.  How  much  better  are  our  schools 
to-day  than  they  were,  say,  fifty  years  ago  ?  What  profit,  what 
advantage  from  these  changes  ?  How  much  better,  broader 
scholarship  have  we  from  the  extended  course  and  lengthened 
year  ?  Are  we  graduating  brighter  boys  and  girls,  with  heart 
and  brain  more  thoroughly  disciplined  to  enter  upon  the  sterner 
duties  of  life  and  the  better  to  fill  the  positions  that  await 
them  ?  In  short,  are  we  advancing  toward  a  higher  plane  of 
citizenship  ?  For  this,  no  matter  how  much  we  may  lose  sight 
of  the  fact,  citizenship  in  its  broadest  sense  is  the  prime  object 
and  highest  achievement  of  our  public  schools.  It  is  the  rock 
upon  which  pauperism  and  vice  must  break,  where  ignorance 
and  socialism  may  be  wrecked. 

I  candidly  admit  that  the  schools  of  Poland  have  not 
reached  their  ideal ;  that  we  have  seen  the  years  go  by  without 
bringing  to  us  all  the  golden  results  that  we  so  anxiously  await. 
Yet,  I  think  that  I  make  no  mistake  when  I  say  to  you  to-day 
that  in  general  our  teachers  are  faithful,  our  pupils  attentive, 
and  our  schools  doing  a  noble  work,  and  ranking  favorably  with 
those  of  other  towns.  During  the  last  few  years,  and  since 
the  adoption  of  our  course  of  study,  a  marked  change  for  the 
better  is  plainly  noticeable.  By  a  slow  but  steady  growth, 
which  I  believe  to  be  healthy  and  permanent,  our  schools  have 
been  coming  to  a  higher  degree  of  efficiency.  Each  succeeding 
graduation  is  marked  by  more  accurate  and  practical  scholar- 
ship. Even  the  younger  children  look  anxiously  forward  to 
the  time  when  they  shall  be  at  the  head  of  the  school  and  near- 
ing  the  honors  of  graduation. 

And  yet  we  are  far  from  being  satisfied.  Only  a  begin- 
ning, it  seems  to  me,  has  really  been  made  toward  what  can 
be  and  will  be  done.  But  in  order  to  reach  our  ideal,  or  even 
to  approximate  it,  all  factors  must  work  together  and  on  the 
same  line  ;  for  like  the  plant  that  strikes  its  roots  deep  into 
the  soil,  seeking  simply  for  that  which  will  nourish  itself,  so  in 


POLAND   CENTENNIAL.  57 

too  great  a  measure  has  been  the  manner  of  conducting  the 
child's  education.  To  specialize,  to  narrow  the  intellectual 
gfrowth  of  the  child  into  channels  which  it  may  follow  in  after 
years,  seems  to  me  to  prostitute  the  broad  field  of  usefulness 
and  unique  place  of  our  common  schools.  Yet  it  seems  to  be 
the  ambition  of  many  prominent  educators,  even  to-day,  to  turn 
the  child's  inclination  in  the  direction  that  he  is  to  follow  in 
life.  But  the  work  of  our  common  schools,  I  believe  to  be,  to 
lay  securely  a  firm  foundation  for  future  usefulness.  If  they 
do  this  they  do  well.  With  satisfaction  I  say  to  you  that  much 
has  already  been  done  toward  perfecting  our  schools.  With 
an  earnest  appeal  to  you  all,  I  repeat  that  much  is  yet  to  be 
done  that  can  be  done. 

The  summer  just  passed  has  witnessed  in  different  parts 
of  our  State  many  assemblies  of  earnest  men  and  women, 
eagerly  inquiring  for  better  methods  for  the  instruction  of  our 
children.  Let  this  same  zeal  characterize  us  all,  and  even  the 
early  years  of  our  second  century  shall  behold  a  wonderful 
progress  in  our  common  schools.  Parents,  teachers,  pupils — 
the  three  factors  of  our  schools — shall  work  harmoniously  and 
earnestly  together,  a  unit  in  their  desires  and  aspirations  for 
all  that  pertains  to  true  citizenship,  to  noble  and  exalted  man- 
hood and  womanhood. 

The  Chairman — The  next  speaker  whom  it  is  my  pleas- 
ure to  introduce,  you  will  all  recognize  as  a  townsman  who  is 
much  interested  in  the  history  of  our  town,  and  well  equipped 
to  speak  to  the  toast,  **  Reminiscences  of  East  Poland."  I 
present  to  you  Mr.  J.  C.  Davis,  of  East  Poland. 

J.  C.  Davis — Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen, 
Neighbors  and  Friends :  Some  time  in  the  first  half  of  the  last 
century,  that  section  of  East  Poland  intersected  by  the  Port- 
land &  Rumford  Falls  and  Grand  Trunk  Railroads,  was  visited 
by  parties  of  lumbermen,  sent  there  by  the  authorities  of  the 
English  Government.  This  section,  at  that  time,  was  covered 
with  a  magnificent  growth  of  pines,  averaging  from  three  to 
five  feet  in  diameter  and  a  hundred  feet  or  more  in  height 
These  men  came  here  to  obtain  masts  to  help  build  up  the  navy 
of  Great  Britain,  and  many  of  the  noblest  specimens  of  these 
giant  trees  were  felled,  and  such  as  they  considered  suitable 
for  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  wanted,  after  careful  in 
spection  and  measurement^  were  smoothly  trimmed,  barked. 


58  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

and  loaded  on  strong,  broad  sleds,  and,  with  large  teams  of 
oxen,  twenty  yokes  or  more,  were  slowly  hauled  to  some  place 
on  the  seaboard,  where  they  were  taken  on  board  of  vessels 
and  finally  made  to  do  service  on  the  war  ships  of  England. 
We  have  measured  the  distance  from  the  stumps  to  the  tops  of 
these  trees  that  were  there,  and  have  found  that  some  of  these 
masts  must  have  exceeded  loo  feet  in  length.  The  removal  of 
such  huge  pieces  of  timber  for  so  great  a  distance,  through  the 
woods  and  across  the  streams,  before  the  age  of  roads  and 
bridges,  must  have  required  much  skilland  care. 

After  these  operations  had  ceased,  the  peace  and  quiet  of 
these  forests  remained  undisturbed  by  civilized  man,  until  the 
first  settler  made  his  appearance  in  1767.  Between  this  date 
and  1790,  when  the  last  of  the  pioneers  came,  the  following 
persons  had  made  a  permanent  settlement  here:  John  Nevens, 
Josiah  Dunn,  Zebulon  Davis,  Captain  Farrington,  Nehemiah 
Strout,  Henry  and  David  Pulsifer.  These,  with  their  families, 
were  the  only  original  and  permanent  settlers  of  this  section. 

John  Nevens  was  the  eldest  son  of  Hugh  Nevens,  who  was 
of  Scotch  descent,  and  came  to  this  country  in  1730.  He  first 
settled  in  Gloucester,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  until  about 
1760,  when  he  removed  to  New  Gloucester,  Maine.  The 
original  deed  of  the  lot  purchased  by  him  bears  date  of  June 
12th,  1 76 1 — consideration,  forty  pounds  lawful  money.  Mr. 
Nevens  continued  to  reside  in  New  Gloucester  until  his  death 
in  1778.  His  son  John,  the  pioneer  settler  of  this  section,  was 
born  in  Gloucester,  Mass.,  in  1743,  and  married  Mary  Pring  of 
the  same  town  in  1767,  and,  in  the  month  of  November  of  that 
year,  was  employed  as  axeman  to  assist  in  running  the  line  of 
Bakerstown.  Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Addison  Small,  of 
Lewiston,  who  is  a  great-grandson  of  Mr.  Nevens,  I  have 
received  copies  of  many  interesting  papers,  which  give  many 
facts  concerning  the  settlement  of  this  section,  and  also  dis- 
close to  us  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  a  devotion  to  principle 
and  love  of  country  on  the  part  of  these  early  pioneers,  that 
should  cause  us,  their  descendants,  to  ever  hold  them  in  esteem 
and  veneration. 

Mr.  Small  writes  as  follows  : 

**  I  have  in  my  possession  an  affidavit  written  about  1797,  in 
which  Mr.  Nevens  mentions  some  interesting  facts  concerning 
the  survey  and  his  settlement  in  Bakerstown.     I  quote  : 


JOHN   C.   DAVIS. 


6o  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

♦*  *  I,  John  Nevens,  of  a  place  called  Bakerstown,  in  the  county  of 
Cumberland,  Gent. ,  being  of  lawful  age,  testify  and  say  that  on  Monday, 
which,  according  to  the  best  of  my  remembrance,  was  the  ninth  day  of 
November,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1767,  I  was  at  a  beech  tree  having  a 
pile  of  stones  about  it  and  having  a  number  of  letters  cut  in  the  bark  of 
said  tree,  which  I  then  understood  was,  the  Saturday  before,  made  for 
the  northerly  corner  of  New  Gloucester.  I  was  then  employed  by  the 
Proprietors  as  an  axe-man  to  assist  in  running  the  line  of  Bakerstown. 
The  persons  present  at  said  beech  tree  on  said  Monday  were  John  Brown, 
as  surveyor ;  Nathaniel  Little  and  Nathaniel  Bayley,  chainmen  ;  Josiah 
Little  and  Abel  Davis,  as  assistants.  From  said  beech  tree  we  run  south- 
west four  miles  for  the  head  line  of  New  Gloucester,  and  foot  line  of 
Bakerstown.  We  then  run  northwest  until  we  struck  the  Upper  Range 
pond,  and  then  came  on  a  great  rain;  so  we  left  the  work  and  came 
home.  A  few  days  after  we  proceeded  to  lot  out  a  number  of  lots  in  said 
Bakerstown,  and  I  made  choice  of  one  lot  for  a  settlement.  No.  5,  in  the 
end  line  of  which  said  beech  tree  stood.  In  the  winter  following,  I  went 
to  the  westward  and  purchased  said  lot,  and  in  the  spring  following  (1768), 
I  went  to  work  to  bring  forward  a  settlement,  and  about  a  year  after- 
wards I  moved  my  family  on  said  lot  and  have  continued  there  ever 
since.' 

**  During-  the  summer  of  1768,  John  Nevens  was  doubtless 
very  busy  clearing  his  new  farm  in  the  wilderness  ;  and  a  lone- 
some time  he  must  have  had,  though,  no  doubt,  he  made 
frequent  journeys  to  New  Gloucester  by  the  line  of  spotted 
trees  that  formed  the  only  highway  thither.  Some  time  during 
the  summer  he  seems  to  have  made  a  trip  to  Gloucester,  Mass., 
where  he  purchased  a  quantity  of  supplies,  intended,  no  doubt, 
for  the  most  part  for  use  in  his  new  home.  Some  may  be 
curious  to  know  what  articles  were  considered  necessary  for 
housekeeping  in  a  frontier  settlement,  so  I  give  below  a  copy 
of  the  invoice  of  them  : 

"  •Gloucester,  July  4,  1768. 
Mr.  John  Nevens 

Bought  of  David  Plumer  : 

6  stone  Plaits £0,  3,  o 

I  punch  Bole i,  2% 

I  pr.  wool  Cards ;^o,  3,  2}^ 

3  porringers 3,  7>^ 

I  puter  Quart  pott 2,  8 

}4.  pd.  Allspice 9 

^  pepper 10 

needles  6d.  }i  Tea  2s.  3d 2,  11 

I  Iron  pott  27^  pd.  a  2od.  O.  T 6,  2 

I  Iron  Tea  Kittel 6,  o 

3  Earthen  Platters 8 


POLAND   CENTENNIAL.  6l 

6  Bakeing  panns ;^o,  2,  4 

I  Small  Looking  Glass  4,  8 

1  Cake  Sope 7)4 

16  galls.  Molases  at  2od 1,  6,  8 

1  halfe  Barriel  for  to  put  ye  Molases  In 2,  6 

2  Earthen  Juggs i,  4 

2  Qu.  Rum 1,4 

2  Qu.  Wme 3,  o 

6  Reasons 3,  y)^ 

I  Sythe 6,  8 

I  Sive  Bottam 10 

I  Ivery  Comb 1,1 

Reed.  Note  in  full  for  ye  above 

David  Plumer.' 

**  I  have  in  my  possession  many  other  papers  that  belonged 
to  John  Nevens,  most  of  which  are  of  a  private  nature,  but 
some  of  historical  value.  I  give  below  a  verbatim  copy  of  one 
of  these,  which  speaks  well  for  the  patriotism  of  the  early 
settlers  of  the  new  plantation  of  Bakerstown.  They  had 
evidently  just  heard  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  at 
Philadelphia,  and  the  enthusiastic  meeting  of  the  settlers  in 
the  house  of  John  Nevens  (still  standing),  on  July  22,  1776, 
was  a  notable  event.  It  is  plain  that  the  pioneers  were  much 
better  patriots  than  spellers,  but  their  spirit  is  well  worthy  of 
imitation  by  all  their  descendants. 

"•A  memoraadum  of  an  egreement  maid  and  concluded  by  and 
between  us  the  subscribers  as  follows,  viz  :  as  wee  are  now  mat  at  mr 
John  Nevinses  in  Baerstown  so  caled  in  the  province  of  the  masetusits 
Bay  and  County  of  Cumberland  and  think  as  it  eapires  (appears)  to  us 
proper  to  be  on  our  gard  in  ordr  to  secure  our  Livs  and  propertys  as  the 
anemy  is  ganing  towards  us  and  we  do  this  twenty  second  day  of  July 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy  six  mutly  (mutually)  and  volen- 
tarly  ingag  and  promes  to  stand  by  sd.  town  in  making  a  Compny  in  sd. 
town  and  will  from  time  to  time  and  all  times  obay  such  offisers  as  we 
shall  apoint  over  us  and  bear  our  proporshineable  parts  of  Cost  and 
Charge  that  shall  arise  by  Reson  of  the  War  or  aney  outher  thing  for  the 
Banifet  of  sd.  town  as  Witnes  our  hands,  Samuel  Dennen,  Joel  Haskell, 
John  Glover,  Aron  Davis,  Elezer  Grant,  Samuel  Dennen,  Nath'el  Bayley, 
John  Nevens,  Moses  Emery,  Stephen  Rollins,  Daniel  Lane,  Zebulon 
Davis,  Edmd.  Bayley,  Michial  Tool,  Samuel  Morgan,  Job  Tucker, 
Nemeiher  Tucker,  John  Hoyt  (or  Hoyle),  John  Prince,  Benj.  Lane  Jun., 
George  Frances,  Joseph  Frances.' 

**  The  twenty-two  names  signed  to  the  preceding  document 
must  have  included  nearly  all  the  male  settlers  then  living  in 


62  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

Bakerstown  ;  for  two  years  later,  in  1778,  we  find  the  com- 
mittee of  the  plantation  certifying  to  the  Council  and  House  of 
Representatives  that  'the  number  of  male  inhabitants  from 
sixteen  years  old  and  upward  are  twenty  and  eight.'  This 
certificate  is  signed  by  Job  Tucker  and  John  Nevens.  Just 
what  part  the  members  of  the  Bakerstown  Company  took  in 
the  Revolutionary  War,  I  am  unable  to  state.  It  is  known 
that  Zebulon  Davis  served  in  the  army,  and  was  held  prisoner 
by  the  British  for  a  long  time.  Probably  some  of  the  others 
served  more  or  less.  In  1781  we  find  Zebulon  Davis  captain, 
and  John  Nevens  first  lieutenant,  of  the  Bakerstown  Com- 
pany of  Militia,  which  was  assigned  to  the  regiment  of  which 
Isaac  Parsons,  of  New  Gloucester,  was  colonel.  As  late  as 
1786  it  was  still  Captain  Davis  and  Lieutenant  Nevens.  The 
latter  resigned,  I  think,  in  1787." 

Mr.  Nevens  made  a  clearing  on  land  now^  owned  and 
occupied  as  a  farm  by  Elvin  D.  Pulsifer,  and  he  built  the  house 
in  which  Mr.  Pulsifer  now  lives.  This  was  one  of  the  first 
houses  built  in  the  settlement.  It  is  in  an  excellent  state  of 
preservation,  and  ought  to  be  good  for  another  hundred  years. 
Mr.  Nevens,  I  think,  must  have  been  a  man  of  some  means, 
with  a  kind  heart  and  progressive  ideas.  He  brought  into  the 
settlement  the  first  horse  and  wagon,  the  first  grindstone,  and 
iron  shovel,  and  was  ever  willing  that  his  neighbors  should 
have  the  benefit  of  their  use.  Mr.  Nevens  lived  to  a  good  old 
age,  and  always  retained  the  honor  and  respect  of  all  with 
whom  he  had  to  do.  The  exact  date  of  his  death  is  not  known. 
He  survived  his  wife  a  short  time.  They  left  a  family  of  five 
daughters,  viz.  :  Elizabeth,  born  May  i,  1769.  She  was  the  first 
white  child  born  in  Bakerstown — married  a  Mr.  Andrews  of 
Paris.  They  had  a  family  of  ten  sons  and  daughters,  the 
youngest  of  whom,  Charles  Andrews,  became  a  member  of 
Congress.  She  died  August  2,  1836.  Mary,  born  October  2, 
177 1,  married  Nathaniel  Small,  of  Minot,  now  Auburn.  They 
had  nine  children.  She  died  January  13,  1852.  Her  husband 
died  in  1824.  Sarah,  born  September  20,  1778;  Hannah,  born 
October  9,  1779;  Nancy,  born  May  17,  1783.  The  last  three 
were  never  married. 

Zebulon  Davis  was  a  descendant  of  John  Davis,  who 
moved  from  Ipswich,  Mass.,  to  Gloucester,  Cape  Ann,  in  1652, 
and  bought  a  farm  in  the  latter  town.     Zebulon  was  bom  in 


1 


da 


FACSIMILE  OF   AGREEMENT  OF   1776. 


64  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

Gloucester  in  1733.  In  the  early  part  of  his  life  he  followed 
the  sea.  The  exact  date  of  his  coming  here  is  not  known,  but 
it  must  have  been  in  the  first  years  of  the  settlement,  from  the 
fact  that  he  was  one  of  the  loyal  band  of  citizens  who  came 
together  from  all  parts  of  Bakerstown,  at  the  house  of  John 
Nevens,  on  the  226.  of  July,  1776,  just  eighteen  days  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  at  Philadelphia,  where  the  agree- 
ment given  above  was  drawn  up  and  signed. 

Zebulon  Davis  served  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  was 
taken  prisoner  and  confined  at  Halifax  for  a  long  time,  where 
he  endured  much  suffering  and  hardship.  He  bought  land  on 
both  sides  of  the  road,  just  north  of  the  lot  taken  by  Mr.  Nev- 
ens, and  built  a  log  house  near  where  the  Methodist  parsonage 
now  stands.  His  four  sons  came  with  him.  Aaron,  the  eldest, 
settled  in  the  town  of  Woodstock  ;  Zebulon,  in  what  is  now 
Centre  Minot ;  Moses  and  William,  on  Pidgeon  Hill ;  but  in  1 791 
the  latter  moved  back  to  live  with  his  father,  and  in  the  year 
following  built  the  house  in  which  Mr.  Elbridge  Gossom  now 
lives.  His  father,  or  Captain  Davis,  as  he  was  called,  lived  there 
with  him  until  his  death  in  1820,  being  nearly  ninety  years  old. 

William  married  Hannah  Marble,  who,  as  a  skilled  mid- 
wife and  nurse,  was  widely  known  through  this  region.  She 
was  ever  ready  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night  to  respond  to 
the  calls  made  upon  her,  to  visit  the  sick  and  suffering,  and 
administer  to  their  wants.  She  died  in  1837,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-one  years.  Her  husband  followed  her  in  1845,  ^^  ^^^ 
age  of  eighty-two.  Of  their  five  sons,  William,  Jr.,  the  eldest, 
and  Eliphalet,  the  youngest,  made  their  residence  here. 
William,  Jr.,  married  Betsey  Trickey.  They  raised  a  family 
of  thirteen  children,  and  always  lived  on  the  farm  now  owned 
by  their  grandson,  J.  G.  Davis.  He  died  in  1863,  and  his  wife 
in  1869,  aged  seventy- two  and  seventy-eight  years.  Eliphalet, 
the  youngest,  lived  on  the  homestead  until  1868,  when  he 
removed  to  Minot  Corner,  where  he  died  in  1886,  being  eighty 
years  of  age. 

*  Captain  Farrington  came  from  Boston.  He  was  a  car- 
penter by  trade.  He  bought  the  land  now  owned  by  Harriet 
Disosca,  between  the  two  roads  starting  from  the  depot  at  the 
Empire,  one  running  south  toward  New  Gloucester,  the  other 
southeasterly  to  Lewiston  Junction.  He  built  the  first  frame 
house  in  the  settlement,  the  one  in  which  Mr.  C.  A.  Stroiii 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  65 

now  lives,  it  having  been  remodeled  and  enlarged  by  its 
present  owner.  The  noble  elms  in  front  of  this  residence  were 
planted  by  him.  He  is  reputed  to  have  been  somewhat  brusque 
and  eccentric  in  his  make-up,  but  inside  the  rough  exterior 
there  beat  a  kind  heart.  He  left  four  daughters  and  one  son. 
One  of  his  daughters  became  the  wife  of  the  Hon.  William 
Dunn.  His  son,  William  F.  Farrington,  became  quite  eminent 
as  a  Methodist  preacher;  he  was  a  splendid  specimen  of  man- 
hood, tall  and  commanding  in  figure,  easy  and  graceful  in 
address,  with  a  voice  so  rich  and  melodious  that  he  never 
failed  to  please,  whether  he  spoke  or  sang.  I  think  he  never 
attended  other  than  the  district  school  at  the  Empire,  and  his 
education  consisted  in  the  mastery  of  such  branches  of  learning 
as  were  taught  in  the  public  schools  seventy-five  years  ago ; 
but  he  had  unusual  gifts  of  thought,  language,  and  song ;  and 
more  than  all  else,  he  felt  that  he  was  divinely  called  to  preach 
the  gospel.  He  joined  the  Maine  Methodist  Conference  in  1829; 
and  during  his  membership  of  more  than  thirty  years  he  filled 
acceptably  many  of  its  best  appointments.  In  1 86 1 ,  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Providence  Conference,  of  which  he  remained 
a  member  until  his  death  in  1888,  in  his  eighty-ninth  year. 

Joseph  Dunn  settled  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Mr. 
Bumham,  on  either  side  of  Worthley  Brook.  He  built  his 
house  near  where  Mr.  Burnham's  now  stands,  and  lived  here 
until  his  death  in  1825,  at  the  age  of  ninety-two.  He  left  eight 
sons,  who  always  lived  in  Poland,  and  are  well  remembered  at 
the  present  time  by  the  older  citizens  of  the  town.  Of  these, 
Joshua,  the  eldest,  served  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution.  He 
was  noted  for  his  witticisms  and  quickness  at  repartee.  He  first 
settled  at  West  Poland,  and  lived  to  a  great  age.  Nathaniel, 
the  second  son,  always  lived  at  the  Empire,  was  a  master  framer 
and  builder,  and  was  active  in  church  work,  for  many  years 
taking  lead  of  the  singing.  He  died  in  1831,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-one.  Sarah,  his  wife,  who  was  a  daughter  of  David 
Pulsifer,  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  lived  with  one  of 
her  children  in  New  York,  dying  there  in  186 1,  being  nearly 
ninety-one  years  old.  Josiah,  after  a  residence  of  a  few  years 
on  the  farm  owned  and  occupied  by  the  late  Jesse  Locke, 
removed  to  Minot  Corner.  He  was  sheriff  of  Cumberland 
County  for  several  years,  and  also  represented  the  town  at  the 
General  Court  in  Boston.    He  died  in  1843,  aged  sixty-four. 


66  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

William,  more  widely  known  as  Colonel,  was  a  life  resident 
here,  and  was  ever  identified  with  the  educational  and  religious 
interests  of  his  native  town;  he  was  repeatedly  chosen  to  rep- 
resent the  town  at  the  State  Legislature,  and  also  served  in 
the  Governor's  Council.  His  death  occurred  in  1862,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-five.  The  other  sons,  Joseph,  Charles,  James 
and  Samuel,  while  not  called  to  public  positions,  were  men  of 
note  and  influence. 

Nehemiah  Strout  came  from  Gloucester,  Mass.,  being  under 
twenty  years  of  age  at  the  time.  He  bought  a  tract  of  land 
next  south  of  Capt.  Farrington's,  on  the  west  side  of  the  road. 
Here  he  built  a  log  house,  where  he  lived  with  his  young  wife 
Rebecca,  the  daughter  of  Josiah  Dunn,  whom  he  married  in 
October,  1780.  Later  on,  he  built  the  house  in  which  James 
Dunn  now  lives.  One  year,  when  living  in  this  log  house, 
their  provision  ran  short — no  breadstuff  in  the  cabin,  and  no 
corn  to  be  had  in  the  settlement;  so  he  took  a  meal  bag  and 
went  to  North  Yarmouth  on  foot,  with  the  expectation  of  get- 
ting corn  or  grain  there,  but  was  doomed  to  disappointment, 
for  none  was  to  be  had.  Thence  he  went  to  his  brother 
Joshua  in  Durham,  who  gave  him  a  couple  of  rye  and  Indian 
loaves,  and  with  these  he  returned  home,  somewhat  dis- 
couraged. But  his  wife  cheered  him  by  her  brave  words  and 
firm  trust  that  Providence  would  not  forsake  them ;  and  sure 
enough,  it  did  not,  as  the  events  of  the  next  day  proved — for  a 
Mr.  Allen,  of  Woodman  Hill,  Minot,  came  that  way,  to  whom 
they  sold  a  pig  for  two  bushels  of  com,  which  Mr.  Strout 
brought  from  there  on  his  back,  a  bushel  at  a  time,  and  he  was 
wont  to  say  that  always  after  that,  they  had  enough  for  them- 
selves and  something  for  the  stranger  at  the  gate.  Mr.  Strout 
was  a  hardy,  robust  man,  and  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety-four.  He 
died  in  June,  1852.  He  was  twice  married;  his  first  wife  died  in 
1 831,  aged  seventy-one,  and  his  second  wife,  a  Mrs.  Jenkins, 
whom  he  married  in  1832,  survived  him  some  ten  years.  His  two 
daughters,  Deborah  and  Phoebe,  became  the  first  and  second 
wives  of  Solomon  Pulsifer.  His  son,  Nehemiah,  Jr.,  and 
Joseph,  well  remembered  by  many  of  us,  always  lived  in  this 
part  of  the  town;  the  former,  for  many  years,  at  the  present 
residence  of  his  son,  Nehemiah  P.  Strout,  where  he  died  in  1866, 
aged  seventy-eight.  His  wife,  Lucy  W^eston,  who  survived  him 
several  years,  died  in  April,    1878,   at  the  age  of  ninety- four 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  67 

years  three  months  and  ten  days.  The  late  Jonas  W.  Strout, 
who  died  in  1884,  was  their  eldest  son.  Joseph,  the  younger 
son  of  Nehemiah,  Sr.,  died  in  1876,  aged  eighty- three  years. 

Henry  Bray  bought  a  large  tract  of  land  on  the  road 
leading  from  the  Empire  to  the  Auburn  line,  on  the  highest 
elevation  of  which  he  built  his  house  and  bam,  and  near  there, 
in  a  rude  building,  he  kept  a  small  stock  of  groceries  which  he 
was  wont  to  sell  to  his  neighbors.  He  had  several  sons  who 
became  residents  of  other  sections  of  the  town. 

David  Pulsifer,  the  last  of  the  original  settlers,  was  from 
Essex,  Mass.,  and  moved  here  in  1790.  His  wife  and  family, 
consisting  of  five  sons,  two  of  whom  were  married,  and  two 
daughters,  came  with  him.  He  bought  a  tract  of  land  on  the 
westerly  side  of  the  road  next  to  the  New  Gloucester  line,  and 
built  on  the  south  part  of  the  lot,  while  his  eldest  son, 
Jonathan,  built  the  house  which  was  the  life  residence  of 
himself,  his  son,  Jonathan,  Jr.,  and  his  grandson,  John  R. 
Pulsifer,  and  is  at  present  owned  by  J.  S.  Sanborn,  of  Boston. 
The  second  son,  Ephriam,  built  still  further  to  the  north,  where 
he  lived,  and  his  son  Isaac  after  him,  till  the  house  was  taken 
down  by  the  latter,  and  that  one  was  built  which  now  stands 
on  the  same  site,  the  beautiful  home  of  Marcus  W.  Pulsifer. 

Solomon,  the  youngest  son,  lived  with  his  father,  while 
his  other  three  sons  made  their  homes  outside  of  this  section. 
Jonathan,  the  eldest  son,  died  in  1849,  aged  eighty-four  years, 
his  wife,  Mary,  in  1862,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three  years. 
Jonathan,  Jr.,  their  son,  who  was  noted  for  his  shrewd  busi- 
ness sagacity,  died  in  1855,  being  sixty  years  old;  and  his  son, 
the  late  John  R.  Pulsifer,  well  known  to  the  most  of  us  at  the 
present  time  as  a  man  of  inflexible  integrity,  and  who  filled, 
with  honor,  the  many  public  positions  to  which  he  was  called, 
died  in  1883,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one.  Ephriam,  David 
second's  son,  lived  to  be  eighty-seven  years  old,  and  died  in 
1864.  His  wife,  Betsey  Gilbert,  who  came  with  him  from 
Gloucester,  died  in  1857,  aged  fifty-six.  They  had  a  large 
family  of  children,  none  of  whom,  however,  lived  to  maturity, 
excepting  Isaac,  the  youngest,  and  an  unmarried  sister,  who 
resided  with  him.  Isaac  died  in  1886,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six. 
Solomon  was  married  three  times,  and  had  a  family  of  nine 
children.  Of  these  only  Joseph  S.,  now  in  his  eighty-sixth 
year,  and  living  with  one    of   his   children   in   Lynn,   Mass., 


68  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

had  a  prolonged  residence  here.  Solomon  died  in  1854,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-four.  Mr.  Pulsifer,  Sr.,  was  fifty-nine  years 
old  at  the  time  he  settled  here,  and  from  that  time  on,  for 
forty-two  years,  he  stood  up  bravely  against  the  hardships  and 
discomforts  of  pioneer  life,  dying  in  1832,  at  the  age  of 
one  hundred  and  one  years.  His  wife  died  the  year  before, 
being  one  hundred  and  two  years  old. 

These  are  the  men  to  whom,  under  the  providence  of  God. 
we,  their  children,  are  indebted  for  many  of  the  favorable 
conditions  of  our  present  situation.  They  were  heroic  and 
stalwart,  men  of  stout  hearts  and  strong  hands;  and  they  had 
need  of  all  these  qualities,  for  men  of  weaker  mould  and  less 
persistent  courage  would  have  stood  appalled  before  the 
problem  set  for  them  to  solve.  With  a  fixed  purpose  to  accom- 
plish the  results  they  had  in  view,  they  went  at  once  to  work. 
They  cleared  the  land,  erected  buildings,  stocked  their  farms, 
fenced  their  fields,  fed  and  clothed  their  large  families  of 
children,  in  short,  they  made  for  themselves  comfortable 
homes.  This  they  did,  but  how  they  did  it,  at  what  cost  of 
effort,  mental  as  well  as  physical  (for  this  work  required  brain 
as  well  as  brawn),  we  cannot  tell — ^no  one  can  tell ;  it  can 
never  be  told,  for  it  is  impossible  to  annihilate  the  progress  of 
the  last  hundred  years,  and  bring  back  the  condition  of  things 
that  then  existed.  But  amid  all  these  difficulties,  they  still 
persevered.  Their  fields  and  families  increased  in  size,  but  the 
larger  products  of  the  one  were  needed  to  meet  the  increasing 
demands  of  the  other.  They  had  no  corn  planters  or  culti- 
vators; no  steel  plows  or  horse  rakes;  no  machines  for  mowing 
or  threshing.  But  they  ploughed  the  ground,  planted,  tilled 
and  harvested  their  crops,  and  threshed  their  grain,  all  by  hand 
labor,  and  with  implements  of  the  rudest  kind,  many  of  which 
were  made  by  themselves;  and  in  the  winter  months, when  they 
could  no  longer  work  on  the  land,  they  manufactured  many 
thousands  of  a  superior  quality  of  shingles  from  the  bodies  of 
those  giant  pines  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  which 
years  before  had  been  blown  down  by  a  mighty  wind.  For 
these  products  they  found  a  ready  market  in  the  seaport  towns, 
and  from  the  proceeds  of  their  sale  they  were  enabled  to 
supply  their  families  with  many  indispensable  articles  that 
could  not  be  produced  from  the  farm.  And  through  all  these 
years   of   struggle   and  hardship,   the   wives   of   these  heroic 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  69 

men  proved  themselves  to  be  willing  and  able  helpmates,  for, 
in  addition  to  the  housework  proper,  they  spun  the  yam,  wove 
the  cloth,  and  made  the  garments  for  the  family  wear,  and  by 
an  economy  of  time  and  means  they  foimd  a  way  to  decorate 
their  modest  homes  with  many  little  articles  of  beauty  and 
refinement;  and  thus  the  hardness  of  pioneer  life  began  to  dis- 
appear. But  they  did  not  labor  wholly  for  material  things,  for 
they  possessed  deep  and  earnest  religious  convictions,  and  were 
accustomed  to  meet  at  each  other's  houses  for  sacred  worship. 

They  seem  to  have  embraced  the  doctrines  of  John 
Wesley,  for  in  the  early  years  of  the  settlement  a  Methodist 
church  was  organized  here,  which  has  retained  its  organiza- 
tion and  maintained  public  worship  from  that  date  until  the 
present.  The  first  Methodist  sermon  preached  here  was  in 
1793,  when  Jesse  Lee,  an  eminent  pioneer  of  Methodism, 
preached  in  the  house  of  Nehemiah  Strout.  The  large  kitchen 
of  Mr.  Strout's  house  was  used  as  a  preaching  place  for 
many  of  the  itinerants  who  came  this  way.  In  1795,  Port- 
land circuit  was  formed,  in  which  Poland  was  included,  and 
remained  a  part  of  till  1802,  when  the  circuit  was  divided  by 
a  line  running  nearly  north  and  south  between  Portland 
and  Falmouth,  and  the  name  of  the  western  half,  which 
included  Portland,  was  changed  to  Poland  because  Poland  had 
the  larger  membership,  and  Philip  Munger  was  read  off  to 
Poland  circuit.  And  since  that  date,  Poland  has  ever  appeared 
on  the  rolls  of  the  conference  as  one  of  its  appointments. 

Its  territory,  which  formerly  embraced  a  large  section  of 
the  surrounding  country,  has  been  greatly  reduced  in  size,  and 
at  present  includes  only  East  Poland  and  Minot.  It  has  sent 
out  to  other  fields  of  labor  a  large  number  of  ministers  and 
ministers'  wives. 

Its  present  house  of  worship  at  Empire  was  built  in  1823, 
and  in  the  early  years  of  its  occupancy  used  to  be  filled  to 
overflowing.  The  influence  of  this  church  upon  the  com- 
munity has  ever  been  for  good,  and  to  it  we  are  largely 
indebted  for  the  high  moral  character  of  our  people. 

And  now,  in  taking  a  retrospect  of  the  past,  and  looking 
back  on  the  deeds  of  our  fathers  and  mothers,  I  think  we  can, 
in  truth  and  candor,  say  that  they  were  a  band  of  noble  men 
and  women,  an  ancestry  of  which  we  may  well  feel  proud. 
(Applause.) 


70 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


COPY  OF  THE  RECORD  OF  THE  FIRST  TOWN  MEETING  IN  POLAND. 

By  a  fire  which  consumed  David  Dunn's  law  office  about 
1824,  nearly  all  of  the  town  records  were  destroyed. 

Mr.  Dunn  was  one  of  the  town  officers  at  the  time,  and 
keeper  of  the  records. 

We  g-ive  below  a  copy  of  warrant  for  the  first  town  meeting 
of  which  there  is  any  record. 

WARRANT. 

[L.  S.]  To  John  True,  Jr.,  Constable  of  the  town  of 
[L.  S.]  Poland.  Greeting:  You  are  hereby  required  in 
the  name  of  the  State  of  Maine,  to  notify  and  warn  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Poland,  qualified  by  law  to  vote  in  town  meetings,  to 
assemble  at  the  Centre  School-house  in  Poland,  on  Saturday, 
the  twenty-first  day  of  August,  current,  at  three  of  the  clock  in 
the  afternoon,  to  act  on  the  following  articles,  viz. : 

I  St.  To  choose  a  moderator  to  govern  said  meeting. 

2d.  To  see  what  sum  of  money  the  town  will  raise  to 
repair  such  roads  as  have  been  complained  of,  and  to  repair 
such  other  roads  as  may  be  liable  to  be  indicted. 

3d.  To  see  if  the  town  will  accept  or  discontinue  such 
roads  as  may  be  reported  by  their  Selectmen. 

4th.  To  see  what  order  the  town  will  take  respecting  the 
new  county  road  by  Daniel  Waterman's,  James  Dunn's,  etc. 

5th.  To  act  on  any  other  matters  relative  to  the  above 
articles  that  may  be  thought  proper  when  met. 


Given  under  our 
hands  and  seals, 
at  Poland,  this  ninth 
day  of  August, 
A.D.  1824. 


John  Cousens,  ^  Selectmen 

James  Twitchell,        v         of 
Wentworth  Ricker,  )     Poland. 


Cumberland,  ss.: 

Poland,  August  10,  A.  D.  1824. 

Pursuant  to  the  within  warrant  I  have  notified  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  town  of  Poland,  qualified  as  within  mentioned,  to 
meet  at  the  time  and  place  and  for  the  purpose  within 
expressed. 

John  True,  Jr.,  Constable. 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  7 1 

At  a  legal  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  Poland,  at  the 
Centre  School-house,  in  said  town,  on  Saturday,  the  21st  day 
of  August,  1824,  at  three  of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon, 

I  St.   Chose  John  Cousens,  Esq.,  Moderator. 

2d.  Voted  to  raise  one  thousand  dollars  to  repair  such  roads 
as  have  been  complained  of,  and  to  repair  such  others  as  may 
be  liable  to  be  indicted. 

3d.  Voted  to  oppose  the  new  contemplated  road  leading 
from  Joseph  Morrell's  by  James  Dunn's,  Daniel  Waterman's, 
etc. 

Voted  to  allow  one  dollar  per  day  in  expending  the  high- 
way tax. 

Chose  William  Stevens  agent  to  superintend  the  road  from 
Poland  Comer  by  Joshua  Sanders'. 

Chose  Zadok  Allen,  Ezra  Brett,  Nehemiah  Strout,  Jr., 
and  Daniel  Marble,  agents  to  superintend  the  laying  out  of  the 
"highway  tax  on  the  several  roads. 

Voted  to  dissolve  this  meeting. 

JosiAH  Jordan,  Town  Clerk. 

The  Chairman — I  have  the  great  pleasure  of  introducing 
a  distinguished  son  of  Poland,  Mr.  S.  L.  Littlefield,  who  has 
always  taken  a  great  interest  in  his  town's  prosperity.  He 
will  respond  to  the  toast,   ''Our  Men  of  Fame, " 

Mr.  S.  L.  Littlefield — Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gen- 
tlemen: In  speaking  of  our  famous  men,  you  will  not  expect 
me  to  mention  all  the  men  of  note  who  have  made  this  great 
town  their  home  since  its  incorporation,  nor  all  those  who  have 
been  born  and  educated  here,  and  gone  out  to  win  honor  for 
themselves  in  the  various  vocations  of  life. 

In  order  that  none  may  feel  that  I  fail  properly  to  notice 
and  speak  of  them,  let  me  say  here,  that  I  shall  endeavor,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  avoid  repeating  what  has  been  said  of  any 
of  our  noted  men  by  the  speakers  who  have  preceded  me,  and 
to  avoid  forestalling  anything  that  may  be  said  by  those  who 
are  to  follow,  by  confining  myself  to  those  early  settlers  who 
laid  the  foundations,  and  their  descendants  who  have  so  well 
built  the  superstructure  of  our  prosperity,  whose  influence  in 
the  affairs  of  our  own  town  is  best  known  to  me. 

First  among  our  noted  townsmen  stands  Moses  Emery, 
the  first  male  child  bom  in  Bakerstown,  in  consideration  of 


72  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

which  circumstance  he  was  accorded  the  honor  of  naming  the 
town,  which  he  called  Poland,  after  an  old  tune  of  that  name 
that  was  a  favorite  with  him. 

Another  of  our  early  men  of  note  was  Daniel  Waterman, 
who  settled  here  in  1794  or  in  1795,  and  lived  here  till  his  death, 
in  1845.  He  and  his  wife  were  two  of  the  small  number  who 
established  the  Congregational  Church  at  Poland  Corner,  and  he 
was  its  first  deacon,  which  office  he  held  during  his  life.  He  was 
also  a  captain  of  the  militia.  His  family  consisted  of  five  sons  and 
seven  daughters,  all  of  whom,  except  the  eldest  son,  were  born 
and  educated  in  Poland.  Jabez,  the  eldest  of  the  family,  was 
a  soldier  of  the  war  of  18 12,  and  held  the  office  of  orderly- 
sergeant,  and  later  was  captain  of  an  artillery  company. 
After  the  war  he  engaged  in  lumbering,  and  operated  mills  at 
what  is  known  as  Hackett's  Mills,  where  he  died  in  1877.  He 
had  two  sons,  Jabez  T.  and  Isaac  D.,  who  were  very  estimable 
citizens. 

Jabez  T.  became  one  of  our  selectmen,  and  Isaac  continued 
the  lumber  business  after  the  death  of  his  father  till  1883,  when 
his  failing  health  obliged  him  to  retire. 

The  second  son  of  Daniel  Waterman,  also  named  Daniel, 
was  born  in  Poland  in  1797.  During  his  life  he  held  several 
offices,  among  which  were  those  of  Representative  to  the  Legis- 
lature and  Adjutant  of  the  State  militia. 

Daniel  Waterman,  Jr.,  had  one  son,  W.  W.,  who  was  for 
many  years  an  influential  citizen  of  Poland,  taking  a  lively 
interest  in  everything  that  would  add  to  her  prosperity.  He 
was  not  a  politician,  but  accepted  a  place  on  the  Board  of 
Selectmen  for  one  year. 

Prominent  among  the  early  business  men  in  the  eastern 
part  of  our  town  was  Josiah  Milliken,  who  came  from  Buck- 
field  when  quite  a  young  man,  and  settled  at  Minot  Corner  on 
the  Poland  side  of  the  river,  where  he  built  our  first  tannery 
and  operated  it  about  thirty  years.  He  also  engaged  in  the 
lumber  business  and  operated  a  saw  mill  for  a  long  period. 
He  removed  to  Portland  some  time  in  the  sixties,  but  was 
never  fond  of  city  life,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  I  am  told, 
he  was  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  his  old  homestead  in 
Poland. 

His  family  of  five  sons  and  two  daughters  were  all  bom  in 
Poland,  and  received  most  of  their  education  in  our  common 


S.    L.    LITTLEFIELD. 


74  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

schools ;  some  of  them  getting  a  few  terms  at  the  academies  of 
Lewiston  Falls  and  Hebron.  The  eldest  daughter,  Mary  F., 
became  the  wife  of  Daniel  W.  True,  one  of  Poland's  worthiest 
and  most  noted  sons,  who  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  lead- 
ing business  men  of  our  State.  Addie,  the  youngest  of  the 
family,  is  the  wife  of  Mr.  Short,  of  the  firm  of  Loring,  Short 
&  Harmon,  of  Portland. 

The  sons  all  became  able  business  men.  William  Henry, 
the  second  son,  was  a  wholesale  dry  goods  dealer  in  the  firm  of 
Deering  &  Milliken,  of  Portland,  and  is  the  only  one  of  the 
sons  of  Josiah  Milliken,  not  now  living.  Weston  F.,  the  eldest 
son,  after  teaching  successfully  a  few  terms  in  the  public 
schools,  engaged  in  business  in  Minot,  where  by  his  honesty 
and  affability,  he  soon  became  very  popular,  but  the  field  being 
too  small  for  him,  he  removed  to  Portland,  where  he  and  his 
brother,  Charles  R.,  became  the  wholesale  grocery  firm  of 
W.  &  C.  R.  Milliken.  George,  the  youngest  brother,  became 
a  member  of  the  same  firm. 

Besides  his  business  reputation,  Weston  Milliken  has  filled 
many  important  positions.  He  has  been  a  bank  director  and 
president  ;  a  director  in  a  steamboat  company  ;  a  member  of 
the  State  legislature,  where  he  was  chairman  of  an  important 
committee.  C.  R.  Milliken  is  now  the  principal  member  of 
the  Poland  Paper  Company. 

The  fourth  son  of  this  famous  family  is  Seth  M.,  who  does 
as  much  credit  to  his  Poland  raising  as  any  man  that  ever  left 
the  town.  As  a  teacher  in  our  schools  he  was  a  success.  Com- 
mencing his  business  career  in  the  same  store  as  his  brother 
Weston,  he  soon  followed  him  to  Portland,  but  his  ambition 
prompting  him  to  seek  a  larger  field,  he  went  to  New  York, 
where  he  is  now  engaged  in  the  wholesale  dry  goods  trade. 

In  connection  with  the  Millikens,  it  seems  to  me  appro- 
priate to  mention  another  of  Poland's  famous  sons, — Lyman  M. 
Cousens.  Entering  the  store  of  S.  M.  Milliken,  at  Minot,  as  a 
clerk  when  quite  young,  he,  by  honest  energy  and  close  atten- 
tion to  business,  soon  became  a  partner.  After  a  few  years 
spent  in  successful  trade  at  Minot,  he,  too,  went  to  Portland, 
where  he  now  occupies  a  high  place  among  the  business  men 
of  our  State. 

Prominent  among  the  names  of  the  old  residents  of  Poland 
Corner,  we  find  that  of  Hon.  David  Dunn.     Born  at  Cornish, 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  75 

Maine,  in  1811,  he  pursued  the  study  of  law  at  the  office  of 
John  Fairfield,  of  Saco,  and,  after  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1833,  he  settled  at  Poland  Comer,  where  he  resided  until  his 
death,  on  February  17,  1894. 

He  was  a  representative  from  his  town  for  a  number  of 
years,  was  at  one  time  Senator,  at  another  Speaker  of  the 
House,  and  by  a  peculiar  coincidence  was,  for  one  day, 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Maine.  He  was  also  appointed  clerk 
in  the  Post  Office  Department  at  Washington  in  1857,  which 
position  he  retained  for  several  years. 

He  was  a  man  of  ready  wit  and  a  native  quickness  of 
repartee,  which  he  used  to  good  advantage  in  upholding  the 
principles  of  the  Democratic  Party,  of  which  he  was  a  lifelong 
and  enthusiastic  adherent. 

Another  noted  man  in  our  early  history  was  Colonel 
Joseph  Freeman.  Settling  in  Poland  in  his  early  manhood,  he 
in  company  with  Captain  William  Ladd,  of  Minot,  built,  at  the 
southerly  end  of  the  bridge  at  Minot  Corner,  the  first  whole- 
sale store  in  our  town,  from  which  all  the  staple  articles  of 
those  days  were  dispensed  to  all  the  country  around.  In  the 
basement  of  this  store  was  a  mill  for  the  manufacture  of  linseed 
oil,  the  only  mill  of  the  kind  in  this  part  of  the  State.  Later 
in  life  he,  in  company  with  his  son-in-law,  T.  F.  Lamb, 
engaged  in  the  shoe  business,  and  started  the  first  shoe  factory 
in  Poland.  Colonel  Freeman's  two  sons,  Joseph  H.  and 
Charles,  both  served  in  the  Union  army  during  the  Rebellion. 
Joseph  went  out  first  as  a  lieutenant,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of 
captain.  After  the  war,  he  became  a  successful  teacher  in  the 
West,  and  is  now  State  Superintendent  of  Schools  for  the  State 
of  Illinois.  His  brother  Charles  died  soon  after  the  close  of 
the  war,  respected  by  all  who  knew  him. 

Thaddeus  R.  Doten  came  about  the  same  time  as  Milliken 
and  Freeman,  and  settled  in  the  same  neighborhood,  where  he 
built  up  an  extensive  business  in  wood-turning.  He  was  an 
active  man  in  church  matters,  and  with  a  few  of  his  neighbors 
organized  the  Methodist  church  at  Minot  Comer.  His  family 
consisted  of  seven  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  born  in 
Poland,  and  educated  in  the  common  schools.  His  eldest  son, 
John  W. ,  was  a  teacher  of  considerable  note,  but  died  in  his 
early  manhood.  The  other  six  sons  were  all  more  or  less  dis- 
tinguished as  business  men, — Charles  Henry  and  Mellen  T.,  in 


76  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

Boston;  and  Samuel  C,  Ansel  R.,  Roswell  F.,  and  Edgar,  in 
Portland. 

In  speaking  of  our  famous  men,  we  must  not  forget  those 
noble  sons  of  toil,  whose  labors  felled  the  primeval  forest,  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  our  present  agricultural  prosperity. 
Probably  no  man  did  more  to  develop  the  splendid  agricultural 
resources  of  our  town  than  Thomas  Frank.  Coming  into  our 
borders  nearly  eighty  years  ago,  he  settled  in  that  part  known 
as  Hardscrabble,  then  a  wilderness  without  even  a  road,  so  that 
he  was  obliged  to  go  to  Minot  Corner  in  a  boat  up  the 
Little  Androscoggin  for  his  supplies.  With  tireless  energy  he 
cleared  up  a  fine,  large  farm,  and  made  a  comfortable  home 
for  his  family  of  eight  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  but  one  of 
whom  lived  to  become  useful  men  and  women.  Of  the  sons, 
Whitney,  Thomas,  and  David  became  farmers.  The  first  two 
now  occup)^  high  positions  as  successful  tillers  of  the  soil.  John 
C. ,  a  deaf  mute,  became  a  shoemaker,  and  by  his  industry  and 
shrewdness  accumulated  a  snug  little  fortune.  James,  another 
deaf  mute,  still  works  a  portion  of  the  paternal  farm.  Alpheous 
W.  is  employed  in  a  piano  manufactory  in  Binghamton,  N.  Y., 
and  Zachariah  J.  resides  in  Marlboro',  Mass. 

In  the  western  part  of  our  town,  two  men  who  deserve 
special  notice  were  Nathaniel  and  Amaziah  Keen.  By  their 
intelligent  cultivation  of  the  rugged  soil  they  were  able  to  pro- 
vide their  families  with  the  comforts  of  life,  and  to  exercise  a 
generous  hospitality  toward  all  who  entered  their  doors. 

No  two  men  of  Poland  deserve  to  be  more  honored  for 
exemplary  lives  of  intelligent  industry  than  these  two  Keens; 
and  to-day,  Isaac  H.  and  Everhard  A.,  sons  of  Nathaniel  and 
Frank  Keen,  son  of  Amaziah,  on  the  paternal  homesteads,  are 
keeping  even  pace  with  the  foremost  in  progressive  agriculture. 

Deacon  William  Stanton  deserves  to  be  mentioned  on  this 
occasion  as  one  of  our  prominent  men.  Born  and  educated 
here,  he  was  a  true  Poland  man,  one  of  those  that  give  charac- 
ter to  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  He  was  an  intelligent 
agriculturist,  and  cultivated  successfully  a  fine  farm  on  White 
Oak  Hill,  where  he  took  a  lively  interest  in  church  affairs.  He 
also  at  one  time  ably  represented  our  town  in  the  Legislature. 
His  two  sons,  James  H.  and  Benjamin,  have  been  exemplary 
townsmen,  James  H.  being  at  one  time  on  the  Board  of  Select- 
men. 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  77 

Among  the  men  who  have  developed  the  agricultural 
resources  of  the  south  part  of  our  town,  none  is  more  deserv- 
ing of  special  notice  than  Alfred  G.  Thurlow.  As  an  enlight- 
ened farmer  he  had  no  superior,  and  his  solid,  manly  virtues 
won  him  the  respect  of  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  something 
of  a  local  politician,  and  was  several  times  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Selectmen,  and  of  the  Republican  town  committee. 
His  unflinching  integrity  will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who 
knew  him  best. 

I  must  not  omit  to  mention,  in  this  connection,  that  prince 
among  Poland  farmers,  Charles  H.  Cobb.  Taught  from  his 
boyhood  to  draw  his  sustenance,  his  comforts,  and  his  luxuries 
from  the  soil,  he  has  studied  its  capabilities  until  he  has 
become,  in  his  calling,  a  master  of  the  situation.  Nor  does  he 
selfishly  turn  all  his  knowledge  to  his  own  account,  but  through 
the  Grange  gives  it  freely  to  others. 

His  name  is  familiar  to  farmers  in  all  parts  of  our  State, 
and  he  finds  a  warm  welcome  among  them  wherever  he  goes. 
He  never  seeks  political  honors,  his  highest  ambition  being  the 
improvement  of  Maine  agriculture. 

Probably  the  most  famous  orchardist  of  our  town  is 
Daniel  W.  Pulsif er.  Accustomed  to  the  care  of  fruit  trees  from 
childhood,  he  has  become  an  authority  in  the  business,  and  his 
extensive  knowledge  of  his  calling,  together  with  a  thorough 
imderstanding  of  all  the  principles  of  modern  farming,  entitles 
him  to  be  considered  one  of  our  famous  men. 

Benjamin  F.  Cobb  is  another  of  our  citizens  who  has  dem- 
onstrated to  the  world  that  farming  can  be  made  to  pay,  and 
well  deserves  a  place  among  the  eminent  agriculturists  of  the 
town. 

One  more  class  of  noted  men  remains  to  be  mentioned.  I 
refer  to  those  who  went  forth  to  defend  our  flag  and  uphold 
our  principles,  when  an  armed  rebellion  threatened  even  the 
life  of  our  Nation.  I  regret  that  I  am  able  to  mention  only  a 
few  of  the  noble  men  of  Poland  who  risked  their  lives  in  the 
defense  of  our  country,  but  while  mentioning  that  few,  I  wish 
to  assure  the  many  that  we  all  consider  them  equally  as  much 
men  of  fame  as  those  I  am  able  to  speak  of.  First  among  our 
brave  soldiers,  I  call  your  attention  to  Captain  Nathan  Walker, 
an  adopted  son  of  Poland,  who,  under  a  rough  exterior,  carried 
as  true  and  brave  a  heart  as  ever  beat  in  the  bosom  of  man. 


78  POLAND    CENTENNIAL, 

During  his  military  career  he  was  several  times  complimented 
for  his  bravery  by  his  superior  officers,  and  when  he  had  built 
a  bridge  over  an  important  river,  and  half  a  mile  of  good  road 
in  three  days  almost  without  tools,  he  was  honored  by  its  being 
publicly  proclaimed  to  the  army  that  the  place  should  be 
known  as  "Walker's  Bridge." 

Another  group  of  S9ldiers  worthy  of  mention  are  the  Verrill 
brothers,  sons  of  Charles  Verrill,  of  East  Poland.  The  oldest 
of  these  brothers,  Samuel  H.,  prompted  by  patriotism  alone, 
paid  his  fare  nearly  five  hundred  miles  to  San  Francisco  to 
enlist  in  California's  quota,  and,  after  serving  three  years  in  the 
mountains  of  the  Pacific  coast,  came  East  and  re-enlisted  for 
the  remainder  of  the  war.  If  I  am  not  misinformed,  four 
more  of  the  brothers  were  in  the  Union  army  at  the  same 
time.  Has  not  Poland  a  right  to  be  proud  of  such  a  family  of 
patriots  ? 

In  the  eastern  part  of  our  town  lives  another  veteran  of 
the  Civil  War.  I  refer  to  Isaac  P.  Davis,  who  passed  safely 
through  thirty-three  hard-fought  engagements.  I  consider  this 
enough  to  establish  his  title  to  a  lasting  fame. 

I  have  now  mentioned  a  few  of  the  prominent  men  who 
were  either  natives  of  Poland  or  from  choice  had  their  homes 
here.  Many  more  have  been  or  will  be  mentioned  by  others 
who  have  spoken,  or  will  speak,  to  you  to-day. 

And  now  to  the  young  men  of  Poland  I  would  say:  The 
destinies  of  this  great  town  will  soon  be  left  in  your  hands. 
See  to  it  that  the  progress  of  the  next  hundred  years  equals 
that  of  the  century  that  has  passed  away;  so  that,  when  our 
children's  children  shall  assemble  here  to  celebrate  our  next 
Centennial,  your  names  may  be  added  to  the  list  of  "  our  men 
of  fame." 

The  Chairman— The  next  toast  is  ''The  Early  Settlers," 
and  to  respond  to  this  I  shall  invite  one  of  our  former  towns- 
men and  new  neighbors,  a  member  of  the  Maine  Historical 
Society, — Mr.  J.  W.  Penney,  of  Mechanic  Falls. 

J.  W.  Penney — Macaulay,  the  historian,  says,  "A  people 
which  takes  no  pride  in  the  noble  achievements  of  remote  ances- 
tors, will  never  achieve  anything  worthy  to  be  remembered 
by  remote  descendants."  This  is  but  saying  that  the  people 
who  do  keep  green  the  memory  and  deeds  of  their  ancestors,  are 
a  people  in  whose  veins  runs  the  noblest  and  richest  blood  of 


J.   W.  PENNEY. 


8o  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

the  earth.  The  higher  the  plane  of  civilization  and  refinement, 
the  greater  the  development  of  this  trait  in  the  human 
family.  A  people  low  down  in  the  scale  of  civilization  have 
only  histories  of  myths  and  legends. 

To  the  New  Englander  of  to-day,  there  is  a  halo  of  exquisite 
romance  that  entwines  the  memory  of  the  early  settler,  so  full 
of  stirring  incident,  heroic  achievement  and  sublime  faith,  that 
it  charms  and  thrills  and  stirs  the  emotions  of  the  soul,  pro- 
moting patriotism  and  love  of  country,  and  inciting  to  nobler 
living.  We  love  to  look  back  and  peer  into  the  dim  and  misty 
centuries  of  the  past,  scan  the  acts  of  the  pioneers  of  our 
country,  speculate  on  their  environment,  and  wonder  at  their 
incongruities,  their  superstitions,  their  fortitude,  courage  and 
heroism,  their  love  of  country,  and  their  marvellous  success 
that  has,  in  the  evolutions  of  the  centuries,  made  the  best 
nation  on  earth.  We  love  to  review,  step  by  step,  the  growth 
of  liberty's  tree,  planted  in  hope  and  reliance  on  God,  watered 
by  tears,  and  defended  by  strong  arms,  until  it  becomes  great 
and  glorious  New  England,  with  all  the  name  New  England 
implies.  We  delight  in  letting  the  imagination  run  back  to  the 
scene  at  the  mouth  of  the  majestic  Kennebec — the  Sagadahock 
of  the  red  man — where,  in  1607,  George  Popham  and  his  one 
hundred  colonists  founded  a  commonwealth.  Had  it  not  been 
for  his  untimely  death,  it  is  probable  that  the  Sagadahock 
would  have  antedated  Plymouth  Rock  thirteen  years,  and 
Maine's  most  historic  and  beautiful  river  would  have  possessed 
the  honor  of  the  landing,  and  the  founding  of  New  England, 
instead  of  the  dreary  and  sandy  shores  of  Cape  Cod. 

But  the  Pilgrim  of  1620  would  have  perished  with  hunger, 
had  not  the  early  settler  at  Pemaquid,  Maine,  fed  him  on 
bread  and  fish;  and  a  little  later  he  found  his  richest  estate  in 
trade  with  poor  *'  Lo,"  on  the  Kennebec  at  Cushnoc,  now  the 
capital  of  Maine. 

Pemaquid,  Maine's  first  generally  conceded  settlement, 
commenced  in  1623.  In  1624,  John  Brown,  whose  pedigree 
reaches  back  to  Adam,  with  the  characteristic  policy  of  the  early 
settler,  bought  of  Sagamores,  Samosett  and  Unongoit,  for  fifty 
beaver  skins,  what  is  now  Bristol,  Bremen  and  Damariscotta, 
with  the  Islands  of  Muscongus  thrown  in.  The  deed  for  this 
remarkable  transaction  in  realty  is  the  first  deed  of  convey- 
ance of  American  soil. .  It  was  recorded  a  hundred  years  after- 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  8l 

ward  at  Charlestown,  Mass.,  and  its  acknowledgment  is  a 
model  of  neat  and  compact  formula,  still  followed,  that  well 
entitles  its  writer,  Abraham  Shiirte,  to  be  called  the  father  of 
American  conveyancing".  He  settled  in  Pemaquid  in  1626,  the 
year  of  his  acknowledgment  of  the  deed,  coming  from  Bristol, 
England.  He  died  at  Pemaquid  at  a  ripe  age,  honored  as  an 
honest  man  and  an  upright  magistrate. 

J.  W.  Thornton,  Esq.,  one  of  Maine's  esteemed  historical 
writers,  says:  "The  civilization  of  New  England  was  initi- 
ated at  Pemaquid."  The  unwritten  history  of  Pemaquid,  that 
is  being  slowly  evolved  from  the  silent  testimony  of  witnesses, 
recovered  from  beneath  the  green  sod,  will  yet  make  the  most 
fascinating  chapter  in  the  annals  of  Maine's  early  history. 
They  now  mutely  speak  of  five  nationalities  who  converted  the 
place,  and  shed  each  other's  blood  on  its  historic  soil. 

The  beautiful  islands  that  embellish  Maine's  picturesque 
coast,  sown  seemingly  by  the  Almighty  hand,  in  exquisite  con- 
fusion, were  the  chosen  places  of  the  earl)^  voyagers  to  our 
shores.  Strictly  speaking,  they  are  not  recognized  as  settle- 
ments, for  the  reason  that  they  were  not  continuous.  Their 
sudden  and  mysterious  abandonment  was  frequently  due  to  the 
unchristian  habits  of  their  neighbors. 

Christover  Leavitt,  in  1623,  sailed  along  our  coast.  Pleased 
with  what  we  now  call  Portland,  which  he  said  was  called 
Quack,  he  named  it  York,  and  founded  a  colony  of  ten  men  on 
House  Island,  and  built  a  fort,  which  he  describes  as  a  * '  forti- 
fied house,  in  a  reasonable  fashion,  strong  enough  against  such 
enemies  as  are  those  savage  people."  Leavitt's  fort,  it  maybe, 
was  the  prototype  of  Uncle  Sam's  formidable  Fort  Scammel, 
that  now,  with  its  ten  and  fifteen  inch  bull  dogs,  guards  the 
entrance  to  Portland  harbor.  Leavitt  was  a  Christian,  if  we 
may  believe  what  he  has  written  of  himself.  The  people  he 
found  at  Quack  have  never  written  a  history.  His  six  thousand 
acre  patent  must  have  included  Portland  and  its  environs. 
Poor  Leavitt!  He  planted  his  colony,  sailed  away  and  never 
returned.  He  may,  in  a  limited  sense,  be  called  Portland's 
first  settler;  but  not  until  George  Cleaves  and  Richard  Tucker 
built  their  cabins  at  the  foot  of  Munjoy  Hill,  near  the  present 
India  street,  in  1632,  did  Portland  really  commence  to  be  the 
first  city  of  Maine,  then  known  by  the  name  of  Machigonne. 

Richmond's  Island,  near  Cape  Elizabeth,  claims  the  honor 


82  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

of  being  the  first  real  settlement  of  ancient  Falmouth.  Walter 
Bagnall,  in  1628,  hung  out  his  sign  here  for  trade  with  poor 
*'  Lo. "  By  his  unscrupulous  methods  he  for  three  years  made 
"big  money,"  but  also  brought  down  on  his  own  pate  the  ven- 
geance of  his  customers,  and  they  wiped  him  out  and  divided 
his  spoil.  He  was  a  squatter  and  possessed  no  title  to  the 
island.  In  1855  an  earthen  pot  containing  silver  and  gold  was 
turned  up  by  the  plough  near  his  residence,  perhaps  some  of 
his  ill-gotten  wealth,  rather  than  the  treasure  of  Captain  Kidd. 
His  immediate  successor  was  Robert  Trelawne}',  who  obtained 
a  grant  of  the  island  and  Cape  Elizabeth  in  the  year  1631.  His 
agent,  John  Winter,  settled  on  the  island  and  lived  there  until 
his  death,  in  1645.  By  his  energetic  and  wise  management  he 
built  up  a  large  trade  and  a  commerce  probably  not  exceeded 
by  any  place  on  the  coast  of  Maine  at  that  time.  He  built  a 
vessel  here  and  had  in  his  employ  sixty  men  in  the  fishing 
business,  besides  other  industries,  making  Richmond's  Island 
the  emporium  of  ancient  Falmouth.  The  Rev,  Robert  Jordan, 
marrying  Winter's  daughter,  became  his  administrator,  and 
ultimately  the  possessor  of  the  entire  grant.  He  is  the  Genesis 
of  American  Jordans,  and  his  descendants  are  as  the  stars  for 
multitude,  numbering  to-day  probably  more  than  ten  thousand 
souls.  The  Samuel  Jordan,  an  early  settler  of  Bakerstown, 
whose  remains  lie  in  yonder  ancient  church-yard  in  the  woods, 
was  undoubtedly  one  of  his  descendants. 

The  early  settler  on  our  coast  had,  on  one  hand,  the 
wealth  of  the  ocean,  and  on  the  other  the  vast  riches  of  the 
virgin  soil. 

"  As  off  land  stretched  the  boundless,  restless  sea, 
So  inland  stretched  the  mighty  sea  of  pines." 

Maine's  early  settler  could  not  long  be  satisfied  with  the 
narrow  ribbon  of  settlements  along  its  rugged  coast,  which 
was  all  border  until  about  as  late  as  1736,  when,  with  a  desire 
that  rose  above  all  obstacles  and  dangers,  he,  with  invincible 
courage,  carved  himself  a  home  in  the  vast  wilderness,  and 
gradually,  tier  upon  tier,  the  towns  were  built  as  "Westward 
the  star  of  empire  pushed  its  way." 

In  1736  Bakerstown  was  granted  to  the  officers  and  sol- 
diers that  served  in  the  disastrous  campaign  against  Canada  in 
1690,  commanded  by  Governor  Phips.  Large  numbers  of  these 
soldiers  must  have  passed  beyond  the  want  of  land.     Cotton 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  83 

Mather  quaintly  says  of  them,  "  Some  hundreds  of  them  came 
short  of  home."  This  grant,  then,  must  have  been  a  gift  to 
the  sons  of  the  veterans  who  found  a  grave  before  the  walls  of 
Quebec,  or  perished  in  the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Per- 
haps, now  and  then,  a  solitary  survivor,  with  axe  and  gun, 
guided  by  blazed  trees,  found  his  sixty-acre  lot  and  built  his 
cabin,  only  to  discover,  in  1741,  that  his  hard-earned  claim  was 
in  New  Hampshire,  and  must  be  lost  with  all  its  improve- 
ments. A  new  township  was  granted  the  proprietors,  but  it 
does  not  appear  that  any  settler  had  the  hardihood  to  venture 
so  far  from  the  border  settlements  into  the  primeval  forest 
until  after  the  fall  of  Quebec  in  1759,  which  forever  put  to  an 
end  the  power  of  France  to  incite  and  arm  her  terrible  allies, 
the  red  men,  in  their  awful  work  of  destruction  on  the  fair  hills 
and  valleys  of  Maine. 

Of  the  sixty  proprietors  of  ancient  Bakerstown,  none  can 
be  traced  as  becoming  actual  settlers.  Happily,  I  am  able  to 
trace  one  of  these  honored  names,  whose  ancestor  perished  in 
the  siege  of  Quebec  in  1690.  The  Stephen  Longfellow  men- 
tioned in  the  list  of  proprietors'  names  was  the  son  of  William 
Longfellow,  who  fell  at  Quebec.  The  name  Stephen  was  con- 
tinued down  the  generations  of  the  family  until  we  find 
Stephen  Longfellow  born  in  Gorham,  Maine,  March  23d,  1774, 
and  married  in  1804  to  Zilpah,  daughter  of  General  Wads- 
worth.  He  was  the  father  of  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow, 
Maine's  most  gifted  and  best  beloved  poet. 

The  power  of  the  Indians  broken,  a  few  daring  spirits 
began  to  explore  the  new  township  of  Bakerstown,  but  not 
until  about  ten  years  after  the  treaty  of  peace  with  PYance  do 
we  find  there  were  any  settlers  in  Bakerstown.  And  then 
'twas  difficult  to  find  a  sixty-acre  lot  that  did  not  belong  to 
Josiah  Little.  Many  a  poor  settler  was  driven  from  his  clear- 
ing and  lost  his  all  by  the  inexorable  logic  of  Dan  Reed,  who 
held  in  his  hand  a  bit  of  paper  that  told  the  hapless  settler 
that  he  must  get^  for  he  was  a  squatter  on  the  land  of  Josiah 
Little. 

Some  of  the  first  settlers'  names  that  have  come  down  to 
us  are  Nathaniel  Bailey,  Daniel  Land,  Moses  Emery  and  John 
Newman,  who  settled  at  the  Empire  in  1768-9.  David  Pulsi- 
fer  settled  here  in  1790  and  planted  the  Pulsifer  tree,  whose 
branches  now  reach  over  entire  New  England. 


84  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

Moses^  Emery  was  one  of  those  rare  geniuses  who  could 
build  a  saw-mill  with  a  broad-axe  and  pod-auger.  Worthley 
Brook  was  not  large  enough  for  his  aspirations,  and  he  built 
Bakerstown's  first  mill  on  the  Little  Androscoggin,  at  Minot 
Corner,  established  a  ferry,  and  became  the  happy  father  of 
the  first  boy  of  Bakerstown,  winning  the  prize  of  a  farm.  The 
boy  he  named  Mosesl  He  was  born  September  20th,  1772; 
built  the  first  mill  at  Hackett's  Mills.  At  fifty  he  became  a 
Methodist  minister,  preaching  wherever  he  could  find  an  audi- 
ence, and  school-house  or  barn  for  a  pulpit.  In  1843  he  be- 
came an  Adventist  and  predicted  the  end  of  the  world  that 
year.  He  died  at  Livermore  Falls  November  4,  1861,  and  was 
buried  at  Lapham's  Corner,  in  the  little  now  abandoned  ceme- 
tery by  the  roadside,  beside  his  wife  Susan.  In  about  1887 
they  were  by  relatives  removed  to  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery 
and  tombstones  erected  to  their  memory,  inscribed  as  follows: 

Rev.  Moses  Emery,  died  Nov.  4,  1861,  aet  89  yrs.  "Asleep  in 
Jesus." 

Susan,  wife  of  Rev.  Moses  Emery,  died  June  8,  1858,  aet.  84  yrs. 
"  Happy  in  life,  triumphant  in  death." 

His  son  Moses^,  born  July  16,  1794,  became  a  lawyer  of 
eminence.     He  died  in  Saco,  May  12,  1881. 

Moses  senior's  second  son,  Nathan^,  was  born  August  5, 
1780;  was  converted  under  the  preaching  of  the  noted  Jesse 
Lee,  and  began  to  preach  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  His  field  of 
work  was  New  York  and  Ohio.  He  was  an  eloquent  preacher, 
noted  for  his  deep  and  uniform  piety.     He  died  December  18, 

1845. 

His  (Moses  senior's)  third  son,  Stephen^,  bom  April  29, 
1790,  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College.  He  was  judge  of  probate 
for  Oxford  county,  attorney-general  of  Maine,  chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Education,  member  of  the  Executive  Council,  and 
judge  of  the  District  Court. 

The  now  quiet  little  village  of  Minot  Comer,  a  hundred 
years  ago,  was  the  metropolis  of  Bakerstown.  and  Moses^ 
Emery  was  the  principal  man  of  the  place.  He  was  the  sixth 
in  descent  from  John  Emery,  who  emigrated  to  this  country 
from  England  in  1635,  settling  in  Newbury,  Mass.  He  was  a 
man  of  more  than  average  intelligence ;  genial  and  sunny,  he 
looked  on  the  bright  side  of  life.  Active  and  of  good  judg- 
ment, he  was  a  representative  man  of  his  time,  and  repre- 


t^ 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  85 

sented  the  town  in  General  Court  at  Massachusetts  Bay.  It  is 
a  gratification  to  know  where  reposes  his  honored  dust.  After 
much  inquiry  and  search,  I  find  that  he  and  his  wife  were 
buried  in  the  ancient  churchyard  adjoining  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Center  Minot.  Marble  stones  have  been  erected  to 
their  memory  by  their  son  Stephen,  inscribed  as  follows : 

Moses  Emery.  Born  in  Newbury,  Mass.,  February  11,  1744.  Died  at 
Minot,  April  28,  1836. 

Ruth  Bod  well,  wife  of  Moses  Emery.  Born  in  Bethuen,  Mass., 
February  13,  1750.     Died  at  Minot,  November  28,  1831. 

Without  successful  contradiction,  to  Moses^  Emery  belongs 
the  honor  of  naming  the  town  of  Poland,  the  name  having 
its  origin  from  a  favorite  psalm  tune  of  his,  and  presented  by 
him  with  the  petition  to  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 
Bay. 

Nathaniel  Bailey,  the  reputed  first  settler  of  Bakerstown,  '^'^ 
perpetuates  his  name  in  "  Bailey's  Hill,"  on  whose  picturesque 
slope  he  settled,  and  like  a  monarch  surveyed  the  vast 
**  empire  "  that  lay  spread  before  him.  Obeying  the  Scripture 
injunction,  he  replenished  the  hill  with  little  Baileys.  To  him 
and  his  wife  Abigail  were  born  children  as  follows :  Rhoda, 
born  April  9th,  1781;  Edmund,  born  April  5th,  1783; 
Hannah,  bom  August  6th,  1785;  Moses,  bom  June  25th,  1789; 
Samuel,  born  June  19th,  1792.  His  son  Edmund  married 
Sally  Lane  in  1808,  and  their  children  were  Lewis,  Mary, 
Edmund,  Benjamin,  Sylvanus,  Sarah,  Cynthia,  Otis,  David, 
Ann,  Rhoda,  Willard,  Abigail  and  Lorenzo — fourteen  children, 
three  of  whom  are  now  living,  namely,  Lewis,  Willard  and 
Lorenzo.  On  the  west  side  of  Waterhouse  Brook,  on  the  hill 
near  the  bridge,  at  Poland  Corner,  was  located  the  first 
cemetery  in  this  part  of  the  town.  Its  site  is  now  obliterated. 
Here,  it  is  very  probable,  reposes  the  dust  of  Nathaniel  Bailey, 
Bakerstown's  first  settler. 

The  picturesque  hills  of  Poland,  many  of  them,  derived 
their  names  from  the  early  settlers,  and  Johnson  Hill  undoubt- 
edly comes  from  James  Johnson,  who  was  a  cutter  of  mast 
timber  in  Thompson  Pond  Plantation,  under  a  license  of  the 
King,  before  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  was  bom  March 
2 2d,  1735,  and  married  Elizabeth  Porterfield.  He  died  in 
Poland,  June  i6th,  1831.  His  ancestors  were  of  Scotch 
descent,  coming  to  this  country  in  about  1692.     He  probably 


86  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

served  in  the  French  and  Indian  Wars,  for  he  was  first  lieu- 
tenant of  Captain  John  Brackett's  company  of  Stroudwater, 
who  marched  in  the  Lexington  Alarm  as  far  as  Wells,  when 
they  were  ordered  to  return  to  Falmouth.  In  Captain  Brack- 
ett's company  he  marched  to  Cambridge  in  July,  1775,  and 
joined  Colonel  Phinney's  regiment.  He  became  captain, 
December  31st,  1775,  and  was  major  in  1779.  After  the  war,  he 
moved  to  what  is  now  Poland,  in  179 1.  He,  with  four  others, 
bought  one  thousand  eight  hundred  acres  of  land  adjoining 
Thompson  Pond,  it  being  unappropriated  land.  His  family 
consisted  of  eleven  children,  namely,  William,  Martha,  Joseph, 
James,  Catharine,  Nancy,  Jeremiah,  Lyman,  David,  Charles 
and  Ruth. 

Charles  married  a  niece  of  Admiral  Tate,  so  prominent  in 
the  history  of  Portland,  and  their  daughter  Ann  married 
Joseph  Walker,  who  has  made  munificent  gifts  for  public  pur- 
poses, there  yet  remaining  a  fund  of  $250,000  to  be  divided 
among  charitable  and  literary  institutions  in  Cumberland 
County.  The  grandfather  of  the  James  Johnson  who  settled 
in  Poland,  whose  name  also  was  James,  was  a  ferryman  on  the 
Spurwink  River,  on  the  route  of  the  ancient  King's  Highway, 
from  Falmouth  to  Boston.  He  died  in  1740,  a  very  old 
man.  His  descendants  of  the  seventh  generation  in  the  full 
activities  of  life  yet  reside  on  the  shore  of  beautiful  Thompson 
Pond. 

Ricker  Hill,  grand,  majestic,  unique !  The  name  vibrates 
a  chord  that  is  heard  around  the  earth !  Before  Adam,  nature 
gave  birth  to  the  hill,  and  established  her  exquisite  alchemy  of 
beauty  and  health  and  joy,  in  perpetual  perfection.  The  Ricker 
ancestral  tree  sprang  from  Saxon  soil.  A  century  of  hotel 
keepers,  they  have  developed  the  rugged  old  hill  into  a  sani- 
tarium, world-renowned,  a  paradise  of  health,  a  thing  of 
beauty  and  a  joy  forever. 

The  moss  covered,  weather  beaten,  uncouth  field  stone, 
just  protruding  from  the  ground  in  a  neglected  corner  of  the 
old  churchyard,  tells  its  pathetic  story  of  the  early  settler,  who 
in  the  lowly  walks  of  human  life,  toiled  and  struggled,  hoped 
and  endured  the  storms  of  life,  and  went  to  rest,  unlettered 
and  unknown.  Descendants  of  Puritan  stock,  they  were  God- 
fearing, brave,  patriotic,  honest,  lowly  toilers.  They  are  the 
unknown  heroes  who,  in  their  humble  way,  helped  to  raise 


88  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

the  glorious  fabric  of  a  commonwealth,  the  most  beneficent  on 
the  face  of  God's  green  earth.  Here  in  some  of  their  unknown 
graves  may  lie  the  dust  of 

"  Some  village  Hampden,  that  with  dauntless  breast, 
The  little  tyrant  of  his  fields  withstood ; 
Some  mute,  inglorious  Milton  here  may  rest, 
Some  Cromwell,  guiltless  of  his  country's  blood." 


LETTERS  OF  REGRET. 

The  following  letter  was  received  from  Governor  Cleaves, 
in  reply  to  an  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  exercises  of 
Poland  Centennial : 

State  of  Maine,  Executive  Department, 
Augusta,  Aug.  i6,  1895. 

Chairman  Centennial  Committee,  Poland,  Maine: 

My  Dear  Sir:  Permit  me  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  esteemed  favor  of  August  13,  inviting  me  to  attend  the 
Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Town  of  Poland,  of  September 
II,  1895. 

You  will  allow  me  to  express  to  you  my  appreciation  of 
your  cordial  invitation,  and  I  regret  exceedingly  that  my 
engagements  are  such  that  I  find  it  impossible  to  attend. 

Yours  very  truly, 

(Signed)         M.  B.  Cleaves. 

The  following  from  the  Hon.  William  P.  Frye,  United 
States  Senator : 

Squirrel  Island,  Aug.  13,  1895. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Yours  inviting  me  to  be  present  at  the 
Poland  Centennial,  is  received.  It  would  be  a  great  pleasure 
for  me  to  accept,  and  I  regret  greatly  that  I  have  already  made 
engagements  for  the  month  of  September  that  will  prevent. 
If  my  conveniences  alone  were  to  be  consulted,  I  should 
remove  the  obstacle,  but  several  others  would  be  very  much 
discommoded.  Very  truly, 

(Signed)         Wm.  P.  Frye. 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  89 

The  following  from  Captain  Joseph  H.  Freeman,  former 
resident  of  Poland,  and  at  this  time  Superintendent  of  Schools 
in  the  State  of  Illinois : 

McHenry,  III.,  July  i6,  1895. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Replying  to  yours  of  the  12th,  I  cannot 
thank  you  sufficiently  for  your  kind  invitation  to  attend  the 
Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  town  of  Poland,  September  11, 
and  respond  to  the  toast — "Our  War  Record." 

I  do  not  know  what  would  give  me  more  pleasure  than  to 
meet  the  much  loved  friends  of  my  youth  and  early  manhood. 
At  this  writing  I  ought  not  to  say  "Yes,"  and  yet  I  cannot 
endure  the  thought  of  saying  "  No." 

The  fact  that  the  Anniversary  occurs  the  second  week  of 
my  school  year  will  render  it  almost  impracticable,  I  fear,  to 
be  away  from  my  school  duties.  Especially  so,  as  one  of  my 
principals  is  spending  the  vacation  in  Europe,  and  will  not 
return  till  the  third  week  in  September.  Before  giving  a  final 
answer,  I  will  talk  with  some  of  the  members  of  my  Board  of 
Education,  whom  I  shall  see  next  week,  when  I  go  home  to 
attend  a  meeting  of  the  Board,  after  which  I  will  write  you 
again. 

With  the  kindest  regards,  I  remain. 

Yours  very  truly, 

(Signed)         J.  H.  Freeman. 

Postal  communication,  received  later : 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  regret  exceedingly  that  I  shall  be  obliged 
to  decline  your  cordial  invitation  to  be  with  you  September 
II.  My  school  duties  will  prevent  me  from  being  present.  I 
cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  regret  this. 

With  kind  regards  to  all  present,  I  am,  very  cordially, 
yours,  (Signed)         J.  H.  Freeman. 

From  J.  A.  Turner,  Hartford  C our  ant : 

Hartford,  Conn.,  Aug.  18,  1895. 

Dear  Sirs:  Your  kind  invitation  at  hand.  I  shall  try 
very  hard  to  be  one  of  the  great  family  of  children  who  will 
gather  to  celebrate  the  old  town's  birthday,  but  I  feel  hardly 
competent  to  reply  to  the  toast  suggested.  I  was  barely  seven 
or  eight  years  old^when  I  left,  and  the  reminiscences  of  a  lad 


go  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

of  that  age  are  mostly  personal,  and  incident  to  the  deserved 
and  other  spankings  that  he  may  have  received.  I  sincerely 
hope  that  you  will  find  some  other  fellow  to  do  this  bit  of 
memory's  work,  which  would  need  a  deal  of  trimming  and 
forgetting  to  come  within  the  allotted  time.  Hoping  that  the 
celebration  will  be  the  greatest  kind  of  a  success,  and  that  if 
circumstances  prevent  my  being  present,  I  will  scarcely  be 
missed  from  the  large  family,  I  remain, 

Yours  truly, 

(Signed)         J.  A.  Turner. 

The  following  from  the  Rev.  E.  A.  Stockman,  editor, 
World's  Crisis  : 

Chelsea,  Mass.,  July  24,  1895. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  12th  inviting  me  to  be 
present  at  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  my  native  town,  and  to 
take  part  in  the  services,  is  received  and  appreciated.  Nothing 
could  afford  me  greater  pleasure  than  to  accept  your  very 
kind  request  ;  but  such  is  the  state  of  my  health  at  present 
that  I  dare  not  promise  myself  the  enjoyment  of  participating 
in  an  event  which  cannot  fail  to  thrillingly  interest  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  the  always  dear  old  town  that  gave  us  birth. 
The  most  sacred  memories  of  my  life,  still  fresh  and  warmly 
cherished,  cluster  amid  the  scenes  of  my  childhood  in  that 
historic  parish — Poland  Empire.  I  am  only  sorry  that  I  will 
not  probably  be  able  to  be  with  you  in  your  contemplated 
celebration. 

Hoping  you  may  have  a  large  and  interesting  gathering, 
I  am.  Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)         E.A.  Stockman. 


MR.   H.  W.   RICKER,  MARSHAL,  AND  HIS  STAFF. 

All  the  officers  of  this  Staff  were  born  in  Poland,  save 
Messrs.  W.  W.  Dennen  and  J.  W.  Mitchell,  and  nearly  every 
industry  in  town  was  represented  by  it.  Mr.  Ricker,  of  South 
Poland,  is  of  the  firm  of  Hiram  Ricker  &  Sons,  proprietors  of 
the  celebrated  Poland  Mineral  Spring,  through  whose  medium 
the  people  of  every  clime  have  become  familiarized  with  the 
fair  name  of  Poland.  Through  the  energy  of  Mr.  Ricker, 
associated  with  his  two  brothers,  E.  P.  and  A.  B.  Ricker,  from 


MR.  H.W.  RICKER,  MARSHAL,  AND  HIS  STAFF. 


92  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

the  establishment  of  a  small  country  tavern,  has  evolved  the 
noble  dimensions  of  the  Poland  Spring-  House,  which,  with  the 
quaint  and  hospitable  Mansion  House,  forms  the  summer  home 
of  hundreds  of  those  representing  the  wealth  and  intelligence 
of  our  country.  The  Poland  Spring  House  has  a  frontage  of 
six  hundred  feet,  and  capacity  for  five  hundred  guests;  the 
Mansion  House,  a  capacity  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  guests. 
The  latter  is  the  home  of  the  Ricker  family,  and  was  first  opened 
as  a  hotel  in  1797,  by  Wentworth  Ricker,  grandfather  of  the 
present  proprietors.  Nor  does  Mr.  Ricker's  ambition  rest  on 
laurels  won,  for  he  is  ever  interested  in  advancing  the  educa- 
tional interests  and  all  that  pertains  to  the  welfare  of  his 
native  town. 

Mr.  Orren  S.  Keene  was  born  at  West  Poland,  in  the 
same  house  wherein  he  now  resides,  about  1836,  and  is  there- 
fore fifty-nine  years  old.  He  carries  on  farming  to  a  large 
extent,  and  his  large  and  beautiful  home,  accommodating  fifty 
people,  is  filled  with  guests  during  the  summer  months.  He 
is  also  Vice-President  of  the  Fernald,  Keene  &  True  Packing 
Company,  packers  of  Poland  sugar  corn.  Mr.  Keene  has 
always  taken  an  active  interest  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  his 
native  town.  He  has  served  on  the  Board  of  Selectmen  for 
many  years,  and  is  much  respected  by  all.  He  is  a  fine  horse- 
man, and  added  dignity  to  the  occasion. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Dennen  was  born  in  Oxford,  Maine,  in  1837 
but  is  of  a  Poland  family  ;  his  father,  Simeon  Dennen,  Jr., 
was  born  in  Poland  in  1794.  He  is  of  a  military  lineage.  His 
g-reat-grandfather  served  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  his 
father  and  grandfather  both  served  in  the  War  of  18 12,  under 
Captain  Snell,  of  Poland.  Mr.  Dennen  himself  served  in  the 
late  Civil  War,  and  was  the  first  soldier  enrolled  from  the  town 
of  Oxford.  Thus,  it  will  be  noted  that  four  generations  have 
fought  in  the  three  great  wars  of  their  country,  an  instance 
rare,  indeed,  and  a  record  of  which  their  posterity  should  be 
proud.  Mr.  Dennen  is  an  active  worker  in  all  that  pertains 
to  the  welfare  of  his  town,  and  has  represented  his  district  in 
the  State  Legislature  with  great  satisfaction.  He  is  local 
manager  of  the  Mousam  Manufacturing  Company,  an  industry 
which  employs  many  men,  and  is  of  great  benefit  to  our  town. 

Mr.  H.  A.  Gerry  resides  in  that  part  of  West  Poland 
known   as  Johnson  Hill,  still  occupying  the   house   in  which 


8ELECTMEN   AND   TREASURER,    i8q6. 


94  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

he  was  born  forty-five  years  ago.  He  is  a  jeweler  by  trade, 
at  West  Poland,  where  he  started  in  business  in  1881.  He  is  a 
jovial  fellow  to  meet,  a  man  of  strict  integrity,  and  universally 
respected. 

Mr.  D.  W.  Bailey  represents  the  trading  fraternity.  He 
is  a  merchant  at  East  Poland,  where  he  has  been  in  business 
fully  twenty-five  years.  He  started  in  a  small  way,  but  by 
pluck,  ambition,  and  a  push  most  commendable,  combined 
with  honesty  and  business-like  methods,  he  has,  with  his 
brother's  assistance,  built  up  a  large  business.  These  gentle- 
men also  operate  a  grist  and  feed  mill. 

Mr.  F.  B.  Shackford  is  an  enterprising,  energetic  and 
progressive  farmer.  He  also  was  born  in  Poland,  in  the  same 
house  where  he  now  resides.  He  takes  a  deep  interest  in  all 
matters  concerning  his  town,  and  is  a  cheery,  good-hearted 
fellow,  constructed  on  the  broad-gauge  plan. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Mitchell  moved  from  New  Gloucester  about 
twelve  years  ago  to  Poland  Corner,  where  he  was  called  to 
take  charge  of  a  butter  factory,  which  is  operated  on  the 
co-operative  plan.  He  has  managed  the  business  of  the 
company  in  a  most  acceptable  manner,  and  has  developed 
an  industry  of  magnitude,  of  which  our  people  may  well  feel 
proud. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  many  of  our  industries  were  rep- 
resented on  the  Staff. 

MEMORIAL  WORDS. 

As  a  voluntary  tribute.  Dr.  Albion  Cobb,  of  Casco,  com- 
municated the  following  appreciative  lines  to  a  Portland  paper 
soon  after  the  death  of  one  of  Poland's  well-loved  preachers 
in  1884: 

On  Thursday  morning  of  March  the  7th,  in  his  residence 
at  West  Poland,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven,  died  the 
Reverend  James  Libby,  a  Free-will  Baptist  clergyman,  well 
and  favorably  known  throughout  all  this  region  of  country. 

For  an  example  of  an  earnest  Christianity,  as  manifested 
in  a  holy  and  blameless  life,  we  may  search  long  ere  we  find 
his  equal.  His  life  is  a  full  answer  to  those  who  continually 
tell  us  that  a  religious  profession  draws  upon  us  the  envy  and 
enmity  of  the  world.     Fearless,   earnest  and  zealous,   always 


M-W-RICKEf?- 


))    (^ 


C-L-KECriE 


SCHOOL  BOARD. 


g6  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

ready,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  to  work  for  his  Master,  he 
was  universally  beloved  and  respected,  and  all  men  spoke  well 
of  him.  I  have  known  him  well  for  nearly  a  third  of  a  cen- 
tury, and  in  all  that  time  I  have  never  heard  an  ill  word  spoken 
of  him  by  high  or  low,  young  or  old,  saint  or  sinner.  A  life 
extending  far  beyond  the  measure  allotted  to  man,  and  earn- 
estly spent  in  the  service  of  God,  is  unanimously  approved 
and  proclaimed  to  be  perfect  by  the  verdict  of  more  than  two 
generations  of  his  fellow-men. 

"  Cold  were  the  lips  that  spoke  his  early  praise, 
And  hushed  the  voices  of  his  morning  days; 
Yet  the  same  accents  dwelt  on  every  tongue, 
And  love  renewing,  kept  him  ever  young." 

A  consistent  Christian  example  like  his  does  more  for  the 
cause  of  religion  than  thousands  of  professions  and  tens  cf  thou- 
sands of  sermons. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES. 

We  now  present  names  of  the  aged  persons  in  town,  most 
of  whom  attended  the  Centennial  celebration,  and  took  an 
active  interest  in  the  programme.  They  are  bright,  witty 
and  well  preserved  old  people,  of  whom  their  posterity  may 
well  feel  proud. 

Mrs.  Lucy  Snell  McCann,  widow  of  Deacon  William 
McCann,  was  bom  in  Poland,  February  22,  1809,  and  is  still 
living  with  her  son,  Joseph  McCann,  on  White  Oak  Hill.  She  is 
in  good  health,  and  one  of  the  best  preserved  and  most  interest- 
ing old  ladies  in  town.  She  well  remembers  the  first  settlers 
of  West  Poland,  where  she  was  born,  and  relates  with  glow- 
ing interest  the  hardships  of  these  people;  the  trouble  they 
had  with  intrusions  of  bears ;  when  carriages  first  came  into 
general  use ;  and  how  the  people  in  her  girlhood  used  to  travel 
with  oxen,  or  on  horseback.  Her  mind  is  as  clear  as  ever,  and 
she  certainly  is  a  remarkable  woman.  She  has  four  sons  now 
living,  W.  W.  McCann,  who  was  orator  on  the  occasion  of 
Poland's  Centennial,  being  one  of  them.  She  is  also  the  grand- 
mother of  Professor  F.  E.  Hanscom. 

Hannah  Snell,  daughter  of  Samuel  Jordon,  widow  of  the 
late  Moses  Snell,  a  pioneer  settler  of  Poland,  was  born  in 
Poland,  June  i,  1803,  and  is  now  aged  ninety-two  years.     She 


MOSES  EMERY. 
THE  FIRST  MALE  CHILD  BORN  IN  POLAND. 


98  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

is  in  perfect  health,  and  does  as  much  work  as  any  woman  of 
half  her  age.  She  attended  the  camp  meeting  each  day  of 
its  session  in  1895,  and  in  October  took  a  carriage  ride  of  fifteen 
miles.  She  is  a  bright,  interesting  old  lady,  in  full  possession 
of  all  her  faculties. 

Moses  A.  Herrick  was  born  in  Minot,  Maine,  January  17, 
1805,  and  has  reached  the  age  of  ninety  years.  He  has  lived 
in  Poland  for  eighty  years,  enjoys  good  health,  and  has  this 
season  cared  for  the  garden,  raising  a  fine  crop  of  vegetables. 
He  is  able  to  walk  three  or  four  miles  to  visit  his  friends.  At 
the  age  of  eighty-seven  years,  he  built  the  chimneys  and 
helped  to  do  the  plastering  in  the  house  of  Edgar  Foster.  His 
five  sons  enlisted,  and  served  their  country  in  the  Civil  War. 

Mary  Field,  born  in  Falmouth,  Maine,  August  16,  1807, 
now  aged  eighty-eight  years,  has  lived  in  Poland  for  the  past 
forty  years.  She  enjoys  good  health,  and  is  able  to  work  every 
day. 

Abbey  Record,  wife  of  Charles  Record,  was  born  in  New 
Gloucester,  Maine,  August  13,  1808.  She  died  May  5,  1895, 
aged  eighty-seven  years. 

Lewis  Bailey  was  born  in  Minot,  Maine,  February  18,  1809. 
He  has  lived  in  Poland  eighty-two  years.  At  the  age  of  eighty- 
six  years  he  is  able  to  do  quite  an  amount  of  work,  or  take  a 
trip  to  Portland  or  Lewiston.  Mr.  Bailey  is  a  descendant  of 
one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Poland. 

William  Rowe  was  born  in  Poland,  April  30,  i8to,  and  is 
now  aged  eighty-five  years.  He  is  in  good  health  and  able  to 
walk  three  or  four  miles  a  day.  He  manages  his  own  farm 
unaided,  and  does  quite  as  much  work  as  many  men  not  half 
as  old  as  he. 

Jonathan  Lane,  born  in  Poland,  February  22,  181 2,  is  now 
aged  eighty-three  years.  He  is  in  quite  good  health,  and  able 
to  do  a  considerable  amount  of  labor  each  day,  or  take  a  trip 
to  Lewiston  or  some  more  distant  place  for  pleasure  or  upon 
business. 

Hannah  Walker  was  born  May  i,  1812,  and  is  eighty-three 
years  of  age.  She  enjoys  good  health.  She  is  a  pensioner  of 
the  war  of  1812. 

Amos  Harris  was  born  in  Poland,  October  15th,  1813.  He 
went  to  sea  as  cabin  boy  when  twelve  years  of  age,  and  fol- 
lowed  the   sea   for   forty   years.     During   the  Civil    War  the 


HANNAH    SNELL. 
THE  OLDEST  WOMAN  IN  POLAND. 


lOO  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

schooner  '' Arcadia, "  was  captured  by  the  rebel  "Alabama," 
and  he,  with  the  rest  of  the  crew,  landed  in  Spain.  His  share 
of  the  Alabama  claim  was  about  $300.  He  is  still  in  the 
enjoyment  of  good  health  at  the  age  of  eighty-two  years. 

Whitney  Frank,  born  in  Minot,  Maine,  April  15,  1815, 
has  reached  eighty  years  of  age.  He  enjoys  good  health,  and 
is  able  to  work  every  day.  He  has  lived  in  Poland  seventy- 
eight  years,  and  served  his  town  as  selectman  and  collector  for 
many  years. 

William  E.  Lunt,  born  in  Hebron,  Maine,  January  2,  1815, 
has  lived  in  Poland  seventy  years.  He  was  one  of  the 
keepers  of  George  Knight,  the  wife  murderer,  after  his  arrest, 
and  remembers  many  incidents  connected  with  the  trial  of  that 
famous  case.  His  mind  now,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  is  as 
clear  as  ever,  but  his  health  is  poor,  keeping  him  indoors  the 
most  of  the  time. 

Mrs.  Jane  Churchill  Dudley  Emery,  born  in  Buckfield, 
Maine,  January  8,  18 13,  has  lived  in  Poland  thirty- five  years. 
Her  first  husband,  who  was  several  years  her  senior,  was  a 
soldier  in  the  War  of  181 2.  She  had  three  sons  by  her  second 
husband,  two  of  whom,  Samuel  and  Oliver,  served  in  the  late 
Rebellion.  "  Aunt "  Emery  is  a  loyal,  patriotic  woman.  She 
has  a  good  memory,  and  relates  with  interest  her  first  attend- 
ance at  school,  which  was  taught  in  the  tie-up  of  a  barn.  She 
lives  with  her  grandson,  Ernest  Dudley,  of  West  Poland, 
where  she  enjoys  good  health  and  is  nicely  cared  for  in  her 
declining  years. 

Stephen  Fogg,  born  in  Windham,  Maine,  October  8, 
t8i2,  moved  to  Poland  in  1874,  where  he  purchased  the 
Captain  John  Megquier  farm,  on  which,  with  his  wife,  he  is 
still  living.  He  is  a  well-preserved,  energetic,  bright  old 
gentleman.  He  well  remembers  the  administration  of  John 
Q.  Adams,  and  has  always  kept  apace  with  the  times.  He 
takes  an  interest  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  the 
country,  and,  with  the  aid  of  his  industrious  wife  alone,  carries 
on  a  large  farm  successfully.  He  and  our  esteemed  towns- 
man, Moses  A.  Herrick,  are  the  only  two  links  in  male 
descent  in  West  Poland  connecting  this  with  a  former  genera- 
tion. May  they  both  live  long  to  enjoy  the  love  and  respect  of 
their  townsmen ! 

Daniel  A.  Thurston  was  born  in  Monmouth,  Maine,  July 


MOSES    A.    HERRICK. 
POLAND'S  OLDEST  MALE  INHABITANT. 


I02  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

1 6,  1808.  He  came  to  Poland  when  a  young  man,  and  has 
lived  here  since.  He  is  eighty-seven  years  of  age,  enjoys 
good  health,  and  is  able  to  work  a  large  part  of  the  time. 

James  Dunn,  born  in  Poland,  April  9,  18 10,  is  eighty-five 
years  of  age.  He  enjoys  perfect  health,  and  thinks  nothing 
of  taking  a  walk  of  four  or  five  miles.  He  owns  houses  in 
Lewiston  which  he  rents,  and  manages  all  his  business  affairs 
with  the  ability  of  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life. 

Julia  A.  Jackson,  widow  of  the  late  Reuben  Jackson,  was 
born  in  the  town  of  Raymond  in  the  year  181 2.  She  moved  to 
Poland  Corner  in  1832,  where  she  has  resided  ever  since. 
Mrs.  Jackson  is  in  very  good  health,  and  retains  her  faculties 
wonderfully. 

THE  CHIPMAN  FAMILY. 

Alden  B.  Chipman,  born  in  Poland,  June  12,  18 14,  is 
therefore  now  eighty-one  years  of  age.  He  is  in  good  health  and 
able  to  walk  several  miles  each  day  for  pleasure,  and  quite 
frequently  attends  the  meeting  of  the  Grange,  in  which  he  is 
much  interested.  Mr.  Chipman  is  a  descendant  of  Benjamin 
Chipman,  who  settled  in  Poland  in  1779.  The  earliest  knowl- 
edge we  have  of  the  Chipman  family  is  of  one  John  Chipman, 
who  was  born  in  Dorchester,  Eng.,  in  1614,  and  was  the  first 
one  of  that  name  to  seek  a  home  in  America.  He  emigrated 
to  this  country  in  1630,  and  settled  in  Barnstable,  Mass.  Of 
his  children  we  have  been  unable  to  find  any  record,  but  his 
grandson,  Seth  Chipman,  was  a  resident  of  Kingston,  Mass. 
When  that  town  was  incorporated  in  1726,  and  for  fif^-een  years 
thereafter,  he  served  it  as  one  of  the  municipal  officers. 
On  September  17,  172 1,  he  married  a  daughter  of  Major 
John  Bradford.  They  had  four  children.  Benjamin,  the 
youngest,  born  May  23,  1729,  resided  in  Kingston,  Mass., 
where,  on  May  9,  1 751,  he  married  Hannah  Wadsworth,  a  sister 
of  General  Peleg  Wadsworth,  and  aunt  to  Henry  Wadsworth 
Longfellow's  mother.  In  1774  he  moved  from  Kingston, 
and  landed  in  North  Yarmouth,  Maine.  He  then  went  to  New 
Gloucester,  as  far  inland  as  any  civilized  folk  at  that  time 
lived.  On  April  17,  1779,  he  moved  to  Bakerstown,  and,  taking 
up  a  claim  in  what  is  now  South  Poland,  near  the  New  Gloucester 
line,  on  land  now  owned  by  the  Shakers,  was  the  first 
settler  of  South  Poland,  and  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  the 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  IO3 

town.  He  had  seven  sons  and  daughters,  all  born  in  Kingston. 
He  died  in  Poland,  in  May,  1787,  aged  fifty-eight  years.  His 
wife  died  in  Poland,  in  December,  1821,  aged  ninety-three 
years.  Their  eldest  son,  Benjamin,  Jr.,  born  in  Kingston, 
Mass.,  February  4,  1752,  resided  in  Taunton,  Mass.,  where,  in 
1776,  he  married  Abigail  Milliken.  They  had  seven  children, 
all  but  the  two  oldest  born  in  Poland,  to  which  town  they 
moved  from  Taunton  in  1781,  and  settled  on  the  farm  now 
owned  and  occupied  by  their  great-grandson,  Chester  E. 
Chipman.  This  farm  has  been  owned  and  occupied  by  the 
Chipman  family  in  direct  line  from  father  to  son  since  1781 
— fourteen  years  more  than  a  century.  Benjamin,  Jr.,  died 
in  Poland,  June  18,  1838,  aged  thirty-six  years. 

WILLIAM    SCHELLINGER. 

William  Schellinger  was  born  in  Poland,  August  2,  1806, 
and  is  therefore  eighty-nine  years  of  age.  He  is  the  son  of 
William  Schellinger,  Sr.,  and  Betsey  Waterhouse  Schellinger. 
He  is  still  in  rugged  condition.  In  a  recent  conversation  with 
him,  he  remarked  that  he  well  remembered  hearing  his  elders 
relate  that  Captain  George  Waterhouse  and  Joshua  Dunn 
carried  the  only  two  Democratic  votes  for  Thomas  Jefferson 
thrown  in  Poland  at  the  latter's  first  election,  in  1800. 
The  election  was  held  at  the  house  of  Captain  Waterhouse, 
now  the  Barton  place  (so-called),  near  Poland  Corner.  He 
also  said  that  John  Thurlow,  grandfather  of  Alfred  G. 
Thurlow,  was  the  first  licensed  minister,  under  the  Massachu- 
setts law,  in  Poland,  preaching  in  various  places  in  town,  con- 
siderably on  Johnson's  Hill,  and  sometimes  out  of  town.  Mr. 
Schellinger's  mind  is  very  clear  as  regards  the  early  history  of 
Poland.  He  well  remembers  the  cold  season  of  181 6,  when 
but  little  corn  was  raised,  and  there  was  a  frost  every  month 
in  the  year;  and  as  a  little  boy  he  was  sent  out  with  shears  to 
trim  the  dead  leaves  from  the  stalks,  so  that  the  corn  might 
take  a  new  start.  He  also  gives  a  vivid  description  of  the 
husking-bees,  and  how  on  these  memorable  occasions  three 
hundred  bushels  of  corn  would  be  husked  in  a  single  evening 
and  a  considerable  amount  of  New  England  rum  disposed  of 
at  the  same  time.  He  mentions  the  first  plow  he  ever  saw^a 
wooden  structure,  made  by  one  Lazarus  Rand,  covered  with 
iron  straps.      He  also  alludes  to  the  baking  ovens  of  those 


I04  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

days,  which  were  made  of  stones  piled  on  a  large  flat  rock  or 
ledge,  on  which  a  large  quantity  of  dry  wood  was  burned,  and 
which  sufficiently  heated  them  to  bake  the  pots  of  beans  and 
loaves  of  bread.  Mr.  Schellinger's  memory  is  very  good 
respecting  many  interesting  events  of  those  early  days,  and 
from  him  has  been  gained  more  information  about  the  first 
settlers  of  this  town  than  from  any  man  now  living. 

THE    COUSENS    FAMILY. 

John  Cousens  came  to  Poland  from  the  town  of  Wells, 
now  a  part  of  Kennebunk,  in  1798,  at  which  place  he  had  been  a 
ship  carpenter,  and  earned  about  $300.  He  settled  on  what  is 
now  known  as  Pidgeon  Hill,  put  up  a  log  cabin,  and  cleared  up 
his  farm.  On  March  15,  1801,  he  married  Sarah  Cushman,  of 
Hebron.  Mr.  Cousens  was  for  many  years  a  large  farmer 
and  lumberman.  His  mode  of  business  was  to  buy  timber- 
land,  and  run  in  debt  for  it,  operate  enough  on  it  to  pay  for  it, 
and  then  let  it  stand.  He  followed  this  method  for  a  great 
many  years,  and  finally,  closing  his  lumber  business,  sold 
his  whole  purchase  to  Walker  &  Trickey,  of  Portland,  for 
$40,000,  which,  for  those  days,  was  considered  a  large  sum. 
He  was  a  leading  citizen  of  the  town  for  a  long  period,  being 
one  of  the  selectmen  and  filling  other  positions  of  trust ;  and 
he  was  also  one  of  the  strong  supporters  of  the  Congregational 
Church  at  Poland  Corner,  and  for  many  years  paid  one-quarter 
of  the  minister's  salary.  His  home  was  a  home  for  the  ministers 
of  all  denominations ;  they  went  there  as  freely  as  to  a  hotel, 
and  the  latch-string  was  always  out  for  them.  Mr.  Cousens 
and  wife  had  a  family  of  fourteen  children,  as  follows : 

(i.)  Samuel,  born  February  26,  1801.  He  was  a  farmer 
in  the  town  of  Poland,  where  he  lived  for  many  years.  He 
also  filled  numerous  positions  of  trust  in  his  native  town.  After 
retiring  from  farming,  he  went  to  Portland  and  lived  there 
with  his  son,  John  Cousens,  until  his  death,  a  few  years  ago. 

(2.)  William,  born  February  26,  1803.  He  was  a  mer- 
chant for  many  years  at  Poland  Comer ;  was  also  one  of  the 
selectmen,  and  represented  his  town  in  the  Legislature.  He 
was  a  man  of  marked  business  ability,  and  was  ever  a  public- 
spirited  and  most  respected  citizen. 

(3.)  Sarah,  born  March  13,  1805;  married  Dr.  Simeon 
Foss,  December  29,  1823. 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL.  IO5 

(4.)  Eliza  Cushman,  born  May  6,  1807;  married  George 
W.  Davis. 

(5.)  Lucy,  born  September  5,  1809;  married  Ruf us  Soule, 
September  16,  1846. 

(6.)  Thomas,  born  June  29,  1811.  He  lived  on  the  old 
homestead  until  his  death,  which  occurred  but  a  few  years 
since.  He  was  a  most  worthy  and  respected  citizen,  ever  loyal 
and  true  to  all  that  pertained  to  his  native  town. 

(7.)  Susan  Cushman,  born  August  19,  1813. 

(8.)  Abigail  Deering,  born  July  12,  18 15  ;  married  William 
F.  Welsh,  July  15,  1841. 

(9.)  Humphrey,  born  March  27,  181 7.  He  is  now  living 
at  Gorham,  Maine,  the  last  survivor  of  this  honored  and  pro- 
lific family. 

(10.)  Mary  Jane,  born  April  24,  1819;  married  John  True, 
of  Bangor,  Me. 

(11.)  Adeline,  born  April  24,  1821 ;  married  the  Rev.  John 
H.   Mordaugh. 

(12.)  Harriet  Newell,  born  October  29,  1823. 

(13.)  Jacob  Tewksbury,  born  June  3,  1825. 

(14.)  James  Deering,  born  January  27,  1827. 

Lyman  M.  Cousens,  son  of  William,  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Poland,  in  1840.  When  a  boy,  in  1858,  he  went  to  Minot, 
and  was  clerk  in  a  store  there,  succeeding,  in  1862,  to  the  busi- 
ness, under  the  firm  name  of  Milliken  &  Cousens,  and  then  of 
Cousens  &  Rounds.  In  1868,  he  went  to  Portland,  and  became 
a  member  of  the  firm  of  D.  W.  True  &  Co.,  wholesale  grocers, 
afterward  establishing  the  firm  of  Cousens  &  Tomlinson.  At 
the  present  time  he  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Milliken, 
Cousens  &  Short,  commission  merchants  and  wholesale  dry  and 
fancy  goods  and  clothing.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the  Portland 
National  Bank,  director  of  the  Union  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust 
Company,  director  of  the  State  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
pany, president  of  the  trustees  of  Evergreen  Cemetery, 
president  of  the  trustees  of  the  Payson  Memorial  Church,  and 
trustee  of  the  Home  for  Friendless  Boys.  Mr.  Cousens  mar- 
ried, in  r87i,  Mary  E.  True,  of  Portland.  Perhaps  no  absent 
son  of  Poland  has  lived  more  in  the  interests  of  his  native 
town  than  has  Mr.  Cousens.  Her  prosperity  always  cheers 
him,  as  whatever  might  be  agitated  to  impede  her  onward 
march  would  disturb  his  loyal  heart. 


Io6  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


DANIEL    W.    TRUE. 


Very  many  of  Poland's  worthy  sons,  both  alive  and  dead, 
it  would  be  pleasant  to  remember,  but  since  our  prescribed 
limits  forbid,  we  can  name  but  a  few.  With  these,  Daniel  W. 
True  should  be  included.  He  was  born  in  Poland,  August  20, 
1821,  and  died  September  16,  1888.  In  the  year  1855  he 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  J.  &  D.  W.  True,  wholesale 
grocers,  in  Portland.  He  was  a  man  of  marked  business  capa- 
city, and  amassed  a  large  property,  and  by  his  sterling  worth 
of  character  he  held  lifelong  the  confidence  of  the  community 
and  a  large  patronage  from  a  wide  circle.  He  occupied  many 
public  positions  of  importance,  but  though  thus  engaged,  and 
long  away  from  town,  he  kept  his  old  Poland  home  and  an  unfail- 
ing friendship  for  all  his  native  townspeople,  old  and  young. 
He  married  in  1847,  Mary  F.  Milliken.  Their  only  son,  Frank 
D.,  succeeds  his  father  in  the  Portland  firm,  which  still  holds 
the  old  name  of  D.  W.  True  &  Co.  This  son,  Frank,  has 
entered  upon  the  years  of  manhood  with  much  of  the  tact  and 
push  of  his  honored  father,  and  besides  his  local  business  in 
Portland,  holds  an  interest  in  the  corn  packing  industry  with 
Fernald  &  Keene.  He,  too,  delights  to  visit  often,  and  stay  at 
times  in  the  old  Poland  home. 

LUTHER    PERKINS. 

Anything  like  a  true  history  of  the  development  and 
progress  of  Poland  would  be  incomplete  without  mention 
of  the  late  Luther  Perkins.  Born  in  Oxford,  Maine, 
May  9,  181 7,  he  married  Mary  L.  Waite,  and  settled  in 
Poland,  which  became  his  adopted  home  ;  and  he  was 
ever  loyal  and  true  to  her  interests,  taking  an  active  part  in 
all  that  pertained  to  her  welfare.  Mr.  Perkins  began  busi- 
ness in  1 84 1,  as  a  cattle  and  real  estate  broker,  and  was  engaged 
in  this  pursuit  at  West  Poland  for  more  than  fifty  years.  In 
all  this  time  he  was  well  and  widely  known  as  one  of  Poland's 
most  honorable  and  substantial  men.  Genial,  kind-hearted 
and  courteous,  always  generous  to  every  good  cause,  he  was  a 
prominent  figure  in  town  through  the  half  century  and  more, 
filling  many  positions  of  trust  with  dignity  and  honor,  and 
invariably  saying  and  doing  the  right  things  at  the  right 
time  and  place.     An  honored  and  respected  citizen,  a  trust- 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


107 


worthy  and  faithful  townsman,  a  devoted  and  kind  neighbor 
and  friend,  all  the  noble  virtues  were  in  him  to  be  found,— not 
without  faults  to  be  sure,  but  with  a  record  and  character  which 
few  possess.  He  moved  to  Mechanic  Falls,  in  1888,  where  he 
resided  about  four  years  previous  to  his  death,  which  occurred 
April  2,  1892. 

RICHARD    TRIPP's    FAMILY. 

On  a  little  knoll,  a  short  distance  from  the  lake  at  West 
Poland,  which  has  since  borne  his  name  (Tripp  Pond),  once 
lived  Richard  Tripp  and  his  wife,  Jane  Gustin.  It  is  not 
known  precisely  when  they  moved  here,  but  it  was  probably 
about  the  year  1780,  for  they  were  among  the  first  settlers. 
Little  is  known  of  these  people  beyond  the  fact  that  they 
were  honest,  industrious,  and  very  respectable.  Richard 
Tripp  purchased  his  land  of  a  proprietor  who  agreed  to  take 
his  pay  in  baskets,  of  any  size  Mr.  Tripp  desired  to  make. 
Traveling  in  those  days  being  chiefly  confined  to  oxen,  and  a 
journey  of  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  in  winter  taking  several 
hours,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  making  a  basket  large  enough 
to  cover  over  a  whole  sled.  This  he  constructed  with  a  tight 
fitting  cover,  and  it  was  used  as  a  vehicle  in  cold  weather  for 
moving  some  of  the  early  families.  It  is  said  that  William 
Emery's  family,  which  consisted  of  wife  and  five  small  chil- 
dren, were  placed  in  this  giant  basket,  packed  in  straw  and 
warm  blankets,  in  the  month  of  March,  1796,  and  transported 
from  Gloucester  to  Megquier  Hill,  Poland,  a  distance  of  fifteen 
miles,  Mr.  Emery  driving  the  oxen.  It  required  one  whole 
day  to  make  the  journey.  This  basket,  made  more  than  one 
hundred  years  ago,  is  said  to  be  still  in  existence  and  care- 
fully preserved  by  some  member  of  the  Emery  family, 
probably  the  last  relic  of  the  handiwork  of  Richard  Tripp. 
In  these  later  years  of  pride  and  fashion,  the  inhabitants  of 
West  Poland  have  tried  to  change  the  name  of  this  beautiful 
lake  to  one  more  romantic,  but  all  in  vain,  for  it  invariably 
reverts  to  the  original  Tripp.  And  may  it  be  known  by 
this  name  for  all  future  time,  as  a  lasting  memento  to  the 
courage,  honesty,  and  kindliness  of  this  prolific  family !  They 
lived  in  an  age  when  large  families  were  popular,  and  wishing 
to  keep  abreast  of  the  times  Mr.  Tripp  and  wife  had  nineteen 
children.     We  are  able  to  give  the  names  of  fourteen  of  these 


Io8  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

and  it  is  probable  that  the   others   died  young.     Among  the 
number  were  two  pairs  of  twins.     The  list  is  as  follows  : 

Abigail Born  April  17,  1786. 

Pecie "    June  13,  1787. 

Mary "     Feb.  12,  1789. 

David "     Apr.  28,  1 791. 

Reuben "     Jan.    27,  1793. 

Ebenezer "     Nov.  13,  1794. 

Sarah "     Mar.  26,  1796. 

Joanna "     Apr.  24,  1798. 

Abel "     Apr.  26,  1800. 

Abner "     Apr.  30,1802. 

Jane *'     Mar.  30,  1804. 

Thomas "     Dec.   23,  1805. 

Eunice Date  of  birth  unknown. 

Hannah Born  Apr.  24,  1812. 

Dr.  Burbank,  the  family  physician,  offered  Mrs.  Tripp 
one  hundred  dollars  if  she  would  become  the  mother  of  the 
twentieth  child,  but  the  records  prove  that  this  offer  was  of 
no  avail. 

At  one  time,  in  the  school  district  at  West  Poland,  fifty 
scholars  were  contributed  to  the  school  by  five  families,  the 
Tripp  family  being  one  of  them.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
death  of  Richard  Tripp,  William  Schellinger,  then  a  boy,  was 
passing  the  house,  when  the  old  lady,  coming  to  the  door, 
called  to  him,  saying  :  "Tell  your  folks  to  come  to  the  funeral 
at  ten  o'clock,  for  the  old  man  wants  to  be  off  with  himself." 
He  afterward  learned,  however,  that  she  had  reference,  not 
to  her  dead  companion,  but  to  the  minister.  The  Tripps  have 
long  since  passed  away,  but  their  memory  still  survives. 

It  was  learned  from  one  of  our  oldest  citizens  that  the 
family  was  nearly  all  buried  in  the  old  Staples  burying- 
ground,  on  the  south  slope  of  Black  Cap  Mountain,  a  cemetery 
long  since  neglected  and  forgotten.  It  was  only  by  diligent 
search  that  it  was  found.  Here  on  a  little  knoll,  sloping  to  the 
South,  ready  to  catch  the  first  gleams  of  the  rising  sun, 
covered  with  pine  and  birches,  in  the  midst  of  a  forest,  lie  the 
ashes  of  Richard  Tripp  and  his  wife,  Jane.  There  is  nothing 
at  the  head  of  the  nameless  graves  here  to  indicate  who  lies  in 
the  lonely  and  secluded  spot.  Nothing  but  plain  stones  mark 
them,  and  they  have  become  moss  covered  and  drifted  over 
with  leaves.  It  is  probable  that  more  than  one  hundred  were 
buried  in  this  sad  and  gloomy  sepulchre. 


r^><'**fo 


THE    STAPLES    BURYING-GROUND. 


no  POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 

BENJAMIN     WATERHOUSE. 

Benjamin  Waterhouse,  son  of  Joseph,  who  was  a  son  of 
George  Waterhouse  of  Revolutionary  fame,  was  born  in  Poland, 
October  28,  1800,  in  the  house  which  was  his  home  during  his 
entire  life,  and  which  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  his  son, 
V.  P.  Waterhouse.  He  early  became  interested  in  the  affairs 
of  his  native  town,  and  served  on  the  Board  of  Selectmen  for 
seventeen  years,  a  much  longer  period  than  any  other  man 
before  or  since  his  time.  His  administration  of  town  affairs 
always  gave  universal  satisfaction,  and  his  wisdom  in  settling 
many  serious  and  important  questions  which  arose  in  those 
early  times,  shows  that  he  was  a  man  of  marked  ability.  He 
was  one  of  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners  when  the  pres- 
ent county  buildings  were  erected;  served  his  district  in  the 
State  Legislature  two  years  in  succession,  and  was  ever  a 
broad-minded,  loyal  citizen.  In  politics  he  was  a  life-long 
Democrat,  and  in  religion  a  Universalist,  although  he  would 
often  say  he  "wasn't  sot  in  either."  He  was  a  civil  engineer 
by  trade,  and  probably  laid  out  more  lots  and  observed  more 
lines  than  any  other  man  who  ever  lived  in  town.  In  all  the 
business  that  was  entrusted  to  his  care  he  ever  maintained  a 
straightforward  and  honest  policy,  and  the  town  of  Poland 
was  made  better  by  his  life.  His  death  occurred  in  June, 
1891. 

Before  closing  these  brief  sketches  we  desire  to  speak  of 
a  most  respected  former  citizen  of  this  town — Mr.  Adna  C. 
Dennison.  Mr.  Dennison  came  to  Mechanic  Falls,  which  was 
.part  of  Poland  till  1892.  In  1856  he  engaged  in  building  and 
in  the  manufacture  of  paper.  He  practically  created  Mechanic 
Falls,  and  carried  on  a  large  business  for  many  years  at  that 
place.  He  was  a  most  successful  paper  manufacturer,  and 
an  honest,  enterprising  townsman,  ever  loyal  and  generous, 
taking  an  active  interest  in  everything  that  contributed  to  the 
welfare  of  this  town.  In  the  early  sixties,  when  the  town  was 
financially  embarrassed,  he  even  paid  his  taxes  in  advance  and 
performed  many  noble  and  patriotic  acts  through  those  trying 
years  of  civil  war — deeds  which  should  be  remembered  by  this 
and  the  coming  generation.  Mr.  Dennison  is  now  living  on  a 
farm  on  Pidgeon  Hill,  in  the  town  of  Mechanic  Falls,  and  is  in 
feeble  health. 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


INDUSTRIES. 


Ill 


Prominent  among  the  industries  of  Poland,  aside  from 
those  already  spoken  of,  is  J.  S.  Brig-gs's  mill  at  Poland,  which 
has  been  operated  for  more  than  twenty-five  years  by  its 
present  owner.  Mr.  Briggs  has  made  many  improvements  and 
additions  since  starting  his  first  mill,  keeping  in  touch  with  the 
modem  methods  as  they  have  been  developed,  until  he  now  has 
one  of  the  largest  and  best  equipped  saw  and  grinding  mills  in 
this  section  of  the  State.  In  connection  with  his  mill  busi- 
ness he  conducts  a  large  trade  in  farm  and  agricultural 
implements. 

The  store  at  Poland  Comer  is  owned  and  managed  by 
Charles  Rowe,  who  has  been  its  proprietor  for  about  twenty- 
years.  This  is  one  of  the  finest  locations  in  town,  and  the 
store  has  changed  hands  but  few  times  in  the  last  half-century. 
Mr.  Rowe  has  lately  added  a  livery  stable  to  his  business,  and 
is  receiving  liberal  patronage. 

The  two  stores  at  West  Poland  are  conducted  respectively 
by  George  O.  Goodwin  &  Co.,  and  S.  A.  Megquier.  Both  firms 
have  been  in  trade  nearly,  or  quite,  twenty-five  years,  and  both 
have  the  confidence  and  respect  of  their  townsmen. 

E.  A.  Storer  and  W.  H.  Storer,  are  each  carriage  makers, 
and  do  a  thriving  business. 

William  M.  Megquier,  at  West  Poland,  carries  on  black- 
smithing,  which  he  has  followed  for  many  years,  occupying  the 
same  shop  which  was  built  by  his  father,  Moses  Megquier,  who 
established  the  business  here  nearly  seventy  years  ago.  This 
long  established  shop,  one  of  the  landmarks  of  the  town,  has 
always  received  a  liberal  patronage,  and  Mr.  Megquier  is  one 
of  the  stalwart  men  of  his  native  place. 

At  West  Poland  is  also  the  home  office  of  the  Femald, 
Keene  &  True  Company,  packers  of  Poland  sugar  corn  at 
Poland,  Oxford  and  Bryant's  Pond.  This  industry,  which  has 
carried  the  name  of  Poland  to  distant  parts,  is  of  Poland 
origin,  and  of  Poland  management,  having  been  established  in 
1888,  by  Harry  A.  &  C.  L.  Keene,  sons  of  O.  S.  Keene,  a 
native  of  Poland,  with  B.  M.  Fernald,  great-grandson  of  one 
of  the  first  settlers  of  Poland,  as  manager.  Mr.  F.  D.  True, 
also  of  an  old  Poland  family,  was  admitted  to  the  business 
in  1891,  when  the  present  corporation  name  was  adopted,  and 


112  POLAND    CENTET\NIAL. 

Messrs.  C.  L.  &  O.  S.  Keene  became  directors.  As  a  Poland 
enterprise,  the  first  factory  was  built  in  Poland.  The  second 
factory,  at  Bryant's  Pond  was  erected  in  1891,  and  the  third,  at 
Oxford,  in  1892.  The  business  has  steadily  increased  from  the 
beginning,  and  the  concern  early  became  the  third  largest  of 
its  class  in  the  State,  shipping  all  over  the  country,  its  product 
having  the  endorsement  of  leading  grocers,  especially  in  the 
cities  of  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  San  Francisco. 
It  finds  its  raw  material  in  the  rich  farms  of  Poland,  which  are 
to  be  numbered  with  the  most  noteworthy  of  Poland's  indus- 
tries. Mr.  Fernald,  who  has  been  the  manager  from  the  start, 
has  made  his  headquarters  in  Poland.  He  is  warmly  attached 
to  his  native  town,  heartily  devoted  to  its  interests,  and  has 
always  been  ready  as  a  leader  or  follower  to  help  on  every 
praiseworthy  movement  or  good  work  for  its  benefit.  He  has 
served  frequently  as  moderator  of  town  meetings,  and  has 
exerted  his  influence  for  every  measure  for  town  improvement 
which  his  judgment  has  approved.  Mr.  Fernald's  home  is  on 
the  old  homestead,  which  has  been  in  the  family  for  upward  of 
one  hundred  years. 

The  famous  Elmwood  farm,  at  East  Poland,  owned  and 
managed  by  J.  S.  Sanborn,  of  the  firm  of  Chase  &  Sanborn, 
Boston,  is  an  enterprise  of  which  the  town  of  Poland  may 
indeed  feel  proud.  Mr.  Sanborn  is  a  breeder  of  the  finest  of 
gentlemen's  driving  horses,  and  has  one  hundred  and  fifty  on 
the  place  at  the  present  time.  This  was  originally  the  John 
R.  Pulsifer  farm,  and  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Sanborn  in  t886. 
He  has  erected  and  fitted  here  the  most  commodious  breeding 
stables  in  this  county.  They  are  models  of  neatness,  and 
reflect  great  credit  upon  the  owner.  This  industry  is  a  great 
benefit  to  our  town.  Mr.  Sanborn  is  a  most  generous,  loyal 
citizen,  and  has  a  constant  interest  in  the  welfare  of  Poland. 

The  hotel  at  Poland  Corner  has  been  recently  purchased 
by  Dr.  W.  S.  Norcross,  the  celebrated  specialist,  and  has  been 
fitted  by  him  with  great  care  for  use  as  a  sanitarium  in  the 
future.  Dr.  Norcross  has  made  many  changes  about  the 
entire  premises,  all  of  which  are  improvements,  and  show  that 
he  is  a  man  of  progressive  ideas.  We  gladly  welcome  such  a 
citizen  to  our  enterprising  town. 

While  we  are  mentioning  the  business  at  Poland  Corner, 
we   would  not  forget  to  speak  of  the  Portland  &    Mumford 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


113 


Falls  Railroad  and  its  genial  local  agent,  Mr.  Robert  Moore,  who 
helped  so  much  in  making  satisfactory  arrangements  for  trans- 
porting the  large  company  of  Poland  friends  on  Centennial 
Day.  This  road  has  been  in  operation  scarcely  two  years,  but, 
by  the  courtesy  of  its  management,  it  has  come  into  general 
favor,  and  shares  a  large  patronage,  which  must  steadily 
increase.  It  is  a  great  benefit  to  our  town,  and  is  fully  appre- 
ciated by  all. 


POLAND'S   SONS   WHO    SERVED   DURING   THE 
REBELLION. 


Names. 

Allen,  Geo.  L 

Allen,  Wm.  H 

Archibald,  Hira  A 

Atwood,  Eleazor  H , . , 

Beal,  Leonard  H 

Bragdon,  Josiah 

Berry,   William 

Burnham,  Otho  W. . . . 
Bridgham,  Geo.  G.. . . 

Brown,  Horace  J 

Benson,  Clarenton  W. 

Bowen,  Eben 

Bragdon,  Joseph  R.  . . 

Bray,   Stephen 

Bailey,  Smith  G. 


Age. 
.26. 
20. 
.19. 
.22. 
.30. 
.18. 
.30. 
.24. 
.26, 
.24. 
.24. 
.18. 
.18. 

•39- 


Co.       Regt.     M.  orS. 

.F....    9....S.. 

G....23....S.. 

.D....15....S.. 

.H....  I....S.. 
.F....r3....M.. 
.D....15...  S.. 
.D....ir^....S.. 
.C....i7...,M.. 
.C....17  ..  M.. 
.C....17....M.. 

.G 23   ...S. . 

.G....23....S.. 
G....23....S  . 
.G....23....M.. 
5- 


Date  Enlisted.  Remarks. 

.Sept,  20,  '64 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.Feb.    17,  '65 

.May     3, '61. ..  .Living 

.Dec.    10,  '61 

.Dec.   10,  '61 

.Dec,    10,  '61 

.Aug.  18, '62 Living 

.Aug.  18,  '62 Living 

.Aug.  18, '62 Living 

.Sept.  29,  '62 . 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.  Sept.  29,  '62 

.Sept.  29,  '62, . .  .Living 


Bancroft,  John  F 21.... 1 5.  •  • -S. , .  .Jtme  24/61  [  ^^^f  f^* 


Bragdon,  John  J 

Butler,  Florentine 

Berry,  Geo.  W 

Brooks,  Geo 

Brown,  Wentworth  M 

Chaplin,  W.  Jr 

Crooker,  Ansel  F , 

Cole,  Isaac 

Cousins,  Hanson  S 

Cash,  Nathaniel 

Cummings,  Wallace  E. 

Chipman,  Elmer 

Colbert,  John 

Cole,  Levi  E 

Cole,  Osgood 

Crooker,  Almon 

Cobb,  Charles  M 

Cobb,  Chipman 

Cobb,  Marshall  C 

Crooker,  Jonathan. . . . 
Chipman,  Edward  S... 
Churchill,  Allen  M.... 

Cobb,  Cephas  B 

Cutler,  Stephen  P 

Chipman,  Julias  G. . . 
Cushman,  Solomon  D. 


,18, 
.35. 
■25 


.18. 
.21. 
.44. 
.17. 

.18. 

.27. 
.24. 
.18. 
.34. 
.30. 
■  23. 
.18. 
.42. 
.20, 

.44. 
.18. 
.21. 
32. 
.30. 
,20. 
.30. 


.1 9..,.S.. 

.H.,..i4....M.. 
.A....  I....M., 
,7th  Battery. . . . 
.Unassig'd.  .S. . 
.Unassig'd.  .S. . 
.H....14....M.. 
.H....14....S.. 
.B...,io,,..S.. 
.C....10  ...S.. 
...  I 


Sept.  27,  '54, 
Mar.  22,  '65. 
Jan.      9,  '65. 


Living 


.K. 
.G. 
,G, 
G. 
.G. 
.B. 
.G. 
.G. 


S. 

15. ...s. 
23 s. 


23. 

.23 

.31. 

.14. 

.14. 


.G. . .  .14. 

.C, 

.C. 

,C. 

,B. 

.B. 


.17. 
.17. 
.17- 
.17- 
.17. 


,.G...,23 


M,. 

.S.. 

.s.. 

.M., 
.S.. 
.M.. 
.S.. 
.S.. 
.M.. 
.S.. 
.S.. 
.M.. 


,  April 

.Mar. 

.Mar. 

.Mar, 

.Aug. 

.Oct. 

.Oct. 

.Feb. 

.  Sept. 

.  Sept. 

.Sept. 

.Mar. 

.Dec. 

.Dec. 

.Dec. 

Aug. 
.Aug, 

Aug, 

Sept. 

Sept. 
.Sept. 


6/65. 
24,  '65- 
22,  '65. 
22,  '65. 
18,  '62. 

5/61. 

4.  '61. 
18, '65. 
29, '62. 
29,  '62. 
29,  '62. 

23. '64 
12,  *6i. 
12,  '61. 
12,  '61. 
18,  '62. 
18,  '62. 
18,  '62. 
20,  '64. 
29, '62. 
29, '62. 


Living 


Living 
Living 
Living 


Living 
Living 


Living 


114 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


Names. 

Age. 

Co.       1 

'egt. 

M.  or  S. 

Chaplin,  Samuel  F. .  . , 

21. 

..G... 

.23.. 

..M... 

Chandler,  Ezra  D 

— 40.. 

..G... 

23.  . 

..M.... 

Durgin,  Geo.  A 

20. 

..K... 

.  s. . 

..S.... 

Duran,  James  W 

. . .     22. 

.I5-- 
.17. . 

s 

Dunn,  Geo.  B 

24. 

..M.... 

Daisey,   Chas.  M 

•.•.33. 

..C... 

.17.. 

.   M.... 

Dockham,  Chas.  M 

27.. 

..C... 

.17.  . 

..S.... 

Donald,  James  T 

ig.  . 

..C... 

17 

.  s.... 

Duran,  Josiah 

....19.. 

..C... 

.17.. 

..s.... 

Davis,  Lucius 

....36   . 

..G... 

.23.. 

..M..    . 

Dennen,  Eugene  L... 

....18.. 

.   G... 

.23.  . 

..s.... 

Davis,  Benj 

....34.. 

..G... 

23.- 

..s.... 

Davis,  Moses  B 

....  21 .  . 

.23.. 
.23.. 

.  .s 

Downing,  Timothy  T. 

....29.. 

..s.... 

Dudley,  Samuel  H 

... .20. . 

..G... 

.23.. 

..s.... 

Dunn,  Bertrand  F 

18 

.23  • 
.23. . 

s 

Dustin,  Alfred 

24 . . 

..M.... 

Denning,  Jabez  T 

....26.. 

..A.  .. 

.30.. 

..s.... 

Deguis,  John  W 

....18.. 

..A... 

.30.. 

..s.... 

Davis,  Maynard  G.    . . 

...34. . 

..D.. 

.32. . 

..M.... 

Dockham.  Geo.  A 

20 .  . 

..F... 

.  10. . 

..s.... 

Dwinal,  Orrin 

.  . .  .21 . . 

..G... 

.  I. . 

..s.... 

Durgin,  Joseph  H 

....18.. 

..D... 

•  q.. 

..M.... 

Duran,  Elliot  C 

19.  . 

..D... 

.  9. . 

..M.... 

Dudley,  Oliver  P 

....18.. 

..G... 

.  9. . 

.  s.... 

Durgin,  Chas.  C 

....26.. 

..K... 

.14. . 

..M.... 

Davis,  Isaac  P 

. .  .20 

..C...     8.. 
.  .Unassig'd 

s 

Downing,  Jas.  W 

....44.. 

..M.... 

Dwinal,  Wellington  H. . 

21.  . 

..B... 

.  I. . 

..S.... 

Everett,  Wm.  H 

...  .27. 

C... 
.  .  K . . . 

•    5.- 

. .  M.  .  . 

Estes,  Silas 

27.  . 

..S.... 

Edwards,  Humphrey  S. 

45.  . 

..D... 

i"^.. 

..M.... 

Edwards.   Joshua 

....37-. 

..D... 

T^^.. 

..M.... 

Emery,  Greenleaf 

...30.. 

..G... 

.23.. 

..M.... 

Edwards,  Nelson  W 

....18.. 

.D... 

IS     . 

..S.... 

Edwards,  Richard 

....18.. 

..D.  .. 

IS.  . 

..S.... 

Edmunds,  Joseph  Q 

....29.. 

..B... 

I. . 

.  .M.... 

Fuller,  Edward  H. . 

2A 

17.. 

8.. 

M.. 

Freeman,  Chas.  O 

. . . .21. . 

..S.... 

Freeman,  Joseph  H. .  . . 

21.  . 

..G... 

23.  . 

..s.... 

Fisher,  Lucius  D 

19.  . 

..G... 

23.  . 

..s... 

Foss,  Alvin  F 

22.  . 

..G... 

23.  . 

..s.... 

Field,  James  W 

24.  . 

..G.    . 

23.  . 

..M.... 

Fuller,  Wm.  H. 

. . .     23. . 

..A... 

30.. 

..M.... 

Fisher,  Thomas 

25.  . 

..G... 

15.  • 

..s.... 

Fardy,  John 

....40.. 

..B... 

I.  . 

.   M... 

Grant,  William  H 

35-  . 

..K... 

5-  • 

..M.... 

Gillson,  Luke 

45-  . 

.  D... 

IS. . 

..M... 

Gammon,  Stephen  W. . 

21.  . 

..C. 

17. . 

.S.... 

Gerry,  William  G 

....18.. 

..G... 

23. . 

.S.... 

Griffin,   Albert 

.  .    .18 

.A... 
B 

30.. 

9. . 

14. . 

23. . 

s 

Gerry,  James  F.    .  . 

18 

s 

Greenwood,  Norris 

.  .  .  .'^'^ 

M.. 

Griffin,  Sidney  A.  .... . 

....26.. 

M.... 

Goodwin,  Noah  H 

....18.. 

.  .G.. . 

23. . 

.S.... 

Gordan,  Lewis 

30.  . 

..H.    . 

I . . 

S.... 

Harris,  Chas.  E 

22.  . 

..I  .... 

5-  • 

.S.... 

Harris,  Tristam  T 

. . . .22.  . 

..K... 

5-  • 

.s.... 

Hodgkins.  Geo.  A 

....19.. 

..K... 

s.. 

..s.... 

Haskell,   Frank  S 

22.  . 

..K... 

5-. 

.s.... 

Date  Enlisted.  Remarks. 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.June  24,  '61 , . .  Living 

.Dec.    10,  '61 

.Aug.  18,  '62 ,. 

.Aug.  18,  '62 

,Aug.  18,  '62 

.Aug.  18/62 

.Aug.  18,  '62 

.Sept.  29,  '62. . .  .Living 

.Sept.  29,  '62. 

.Sept.  29,  '62 Living 

.Sept.  29,  '62. 

.Sept.  29,  '62. . .   Living 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.  Dec.    15,  '63 

.Dec.    15,  '63 

.Mar.  23,  '64 

.Oct.      4.  '64  ,     Living 

.Feb.    19,  '64 

.Sept.  22,  '01 

.Sept.  22,  '61 

.Sept.  29,  '64 

,Mar.   25,  '65 

■  Aug.     5, '63 Living 

.April    6,  '65 

,Dec.    28,  '63 

Nov.     2,  '65 

.June  24,  '61 

.  Dec.    10,  '61 ... . Living 

Dec.   21,  '61 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

Dec.   31, '61.  ,.  .Living 

.Dec.    10,  '61 

.Dec.    18,  '63 

.Aug.  18,  '62. . .  .Living 

Feb.     6,  '64 

.Sept.  19,  '62. . .  .Living 

Oct.    15.  '62 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.Dec.    15,  '63 

Feb.    13,  '65 

Dec.   28,  '63 

.June  24,  '61 

Dec.    10,  '61 

Aug.  18,  '62 

.Sept.  29,  '63 

.Dec.    15,  '63 

.Sept.  26,  '64 

,Mar.  22,  '65. . ,  .Living 
.Sept.  29,  '62. . .  .Living 

.Sept.  29,  '62 

.Jan.      4,  '65 

Dec.   31,  '63 ,  . 

.June  24,  '61 

.June  24,  '61 

.Nov.     9,  '61 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


"5 


Names. 

Herrick,  Bloomville . . . 
Herrick,  Freeland  M . . 

Herrick,  Geo.  W 

Harris,  Albert  W 

Haskell.  Samuel  F.... 
Hanaford,  Francis  A. , 

Herrick,  Mark  A 

Herrick,  Rufus  W 

Herrick,  Wesley  C . . .  . 
Herrick,  Ronello  S. .  . . 
Herrick,  Granville  R  . 
Herrick,  Mark  A 

Herrick,  Nathan 

Haskell,  Wm.  L 

Harris,  Chas.  M 

Harris,  Wm.  H 

Harris.  Albert  W , 

Hunnewell,  Geo.  W. . . 
Hunnewell,  Isaiah  S.. , 

Hunnewell,  Jas.  B 

Herrick,  Albert  F 

Hutchinson,  Henry  H 

Harris,  Chas.  E 

Hutchinson,  Almon  H 
Herrick,  Percival  D . . 

Hall,  Frank  H 

Jordan,  Levi  F 

Jillson,  Rensalaer. . . . 

Jordan,  Levi  F   

Jordan,  2d,  Joseph  T.. 

Jackson,  Geo.  W 

[ackson,  Augustus  M 

[ordan,  Chas.  W 

fordan,  Chas.  W 

fordan,  Henry  M 

[ewell,  Edwm  D   .  ,    . 

Jewell,  David 

Jackson,  Augustus  M 

Kilgore,  Andrew 

King,  Hiram  B 

Knight,  William 

Kilbourn,  Wm  H.... 

Kalner,  Geo.  W 

Libby,  Silas  C   

Libby,  Chas.  S 

Lock,  Elvin  W 

Libby,  Silas  E 

Lunt,  Alexander  W. . 

Lane,  Geo.  B 

Lamb,  Alonzo  P 

Morton,  Wm.  E 

Morton,  Lewis  J 

Mills,  James  M 

Megquier,  Silas  A  . . . 
Marshall,  Lemuel  T.. 

Mills,  Joseph  W 

McKeene,  Harper  C. . 

MortDu,  Lewis  J 

Morrin,  Lewis 

Mayberry,  Francis  E. 


Age. 

.19. 
.18. 
•23. 
.20. 

■23. 
.21. 
.18. 
.24. 
.24. 
.18. 
.18. 
.19. 
.22. 
.2: 


Co.       Regt.     M.  or  S.        Date  Enlisted. 


G. 
G. 


t4. 
.14 


.G....14 
,C....i7. 


21, 
,26, 

,22, 
21. 


G. 

G., 
.B. 
,B. 

B 

B. 
.G. 

K. 

B. 


.17. 
•23. 
.23- 
•  31 


.S. 
.S. 

S. 
.S. 
.S. 
.S. 

S. 
.M. 


31 M. 

.S. 

.s. 
.s. 
.s. 

.M. 


.31- 
.31. 
•  31. 

L. 


,B....  9. 
G....  9. 
,H....i4. 
C...  8 
.C...   8. 


•  S. 
,S. 
S. 
M. 
M. 


30 
,26 

24. 
.23. 
.21, 


.B....  9. 

Unasg'd S. 

A.... 
.B.... 
.B.... 
.F.... 
,G....c 


.Dec. 
.Dec. 
,  Dec. 

Aug. 
•  Aug. 
.Sept. 
.Sept. 
.Mar. 
.Feb. 
.Mar. 
.Feb. 
.Apr. 
.Oct. 

Aug. 
.  Sept. 
.Sept. 

Mar. 
.July 
.July 


12, 
12, 
12, 

18, 
18, 
29, 
29, 
.23. 
23, 
10, 

23, 
16, 

4. 
21, 
22, 
20, 
22, 
16, 
lb, 


61. 
61. 
Oi. 
62. 
62. 
62. 
62. 
64. 
65. 
64. 
65. 
64. 
61. 
61. 
61. 
04. 
65. 
63. 
63. 


.M. 

.S. 

s. 
,s. 


,  Apr.  6, 
Dec.  28, 
.Dec.  28, 
Dec.  28, 
Sept.  27, 


25. 
22. 

25 
19. 
22. 
20. 
,22. 
23. 
■  25. 
,28. 
21 . 
,21. 
26. 
,29. 
18. 

.25- 
.18. 
20 
.20. 
26. 


B. 
.C. 
K 
,G. 
,C. 
.G. 
,G 
A. 
.B. 
.H. 
G. 


5. 
.14. 
.17. 
.23. 
23- 
.30. 
.  9. 
.14. 
•   5- 


,A 30. 

.G....23. 

A....  I. 

B....   q. 


.M. 
.M. 
M. 
.S 

.S. 
.S. 
.S. 
.S. 
.M. 
.S. 
.S. 

.s. 

.M. 

.M. 
.S 


Unasg'd.  ...M.. 


22. 
27. 
20. 


.G...   12. 
K....   5. 

.G 23. 

G....23. 
.H....  9. 
.H....  9....S. 
.  Unasg'd....  S. 


M. 

,S. 
.S. 
S. 
,S. 


.32. 
.31. 
■23. 

.21. 

18, 
,18. 
,18. 
.19. 
.25. 

.20. 

.33 


3. 

5- 
[4. 
17. 


.G. 
.E. 
G. 
.C. 
.G. 
.G. 

.G....73. 
.G....15. 

.B 14. 

.G....23. 
.H....r4 


M. 
,M. 

.S. 
S. 


23. . . .s. 

23. . . .s. 

73. ...s. 

,s. 

•  S. 

s. 

M. 


Nov. 

July 

,  Nov. 

Dec. 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Sept. 

Dec. 

Sept. 

Mar. 

June 

Dec. 

Sept. 

Feb. 

Sept. 

.Apr. 

.Mar. 

Nov. 

.  Sept. 

.Sept. 

Mar. 

Mar. 

.Apr. 

.Sept. 

.Dec. 

.Dec. 

Aug. 

.Sept. 

Sept. 

Sept. 

Feb. 

Jan. 

Feb. 

Mar. 


Remarks. 

Living 

Living 
Living 
Living 

Living 
Living 
.Living 
.  Living 
Living 
,  Living 
,  Living 

■  Living 


Living 


Living 
Living 


Living 


Living 
Living 


Living 

.Living 
,  Living 
Living 


ii6 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


Merrill,  Wm.  H.... 
McKay,  Daniel.... 
Mills,  James  M. . . . 
Morton.  Mark  E. .  . . 
Morse,  Hezekiah. . . 
Marshall,  Lemuel  T 
Mayberry,  Frank  E 

Noyes,  John 

Orr,  Daniel 

Perkins,  Wm.  M . . . 

Pratt,  Cyrus  T 

Pratt,  Wm.  W 

Pulcifer,  Alonzo... 

Pulsifer,  Eben  J 

Pearson,  Chas.  H.  . 
Peterson,  Orrin  L. . 
Pattee,  Andrew  J. . 

Parsons,  E.  G 

Rounds,  Joseph. . . . 
Record,  Elhanan  W 
Ricker,  Wentworth 

Reed,  Joseph 

Ross,  Edward  F. . . 

Small,  Orrin 

Stowe,  Newton  E.  . 
Snell,  Alonzo  H.... 

Snell,  Albion  K 

St.  Clair,  Alan  son  W 
Stowe,  Newton  E 
Strout,  Chas.  E . . 
Stone,  Willard... 

Seavy,  Chas 

Strout,  Alfred.... 
Smith,  Louville . . 
Tobie,  Wm.  A.  . . 
Tripp,  Chas.  H.. 
Tripp,  Joseph  P 
True,  Thomas  J.,  Jr 
Thurston,  Benjamin 
Thurston,  Jacob. . . . 
Tobie,  Johrathan  L 
Taylor,  Samuel. . . . 

Thomas,  Otis 

Verrill,  John  L 

Verrill,  Horace  A .  . 
Verrill,  Jeremiah. . . 
Verrill,  Chas.  W, . 
Verrill,  Thomas  . . . 
Verrill,  Samuel .... 

White,  Arthur 

Wallace,  Augustine 
Waterman,  Till  son. 
Woodward,  Wm.  H 
Walker,  Phineas 
Whitman,  Geo.  L. . 
Woodsome,  Edwin. 
Woodsome,  David. 
Weston,  Richard. .  . 
Walker,  Wm.  H. . . . 
Waterhouse,  Charles  W 
Walker,  Geo.  W 


Age. 
28, 


Co.       Regt.     M.  or  S, 

.H....I4....S.. 
.H....14. 

.Unasg'd 
.  Unasg'd 
,F....  4. 
.F....  9. 


Date  Enlisted. 


Remarks. 


.S.. 

.s.. 
s.. 
.s.. 
.s.. 


.Mar.  22, 
.Feb.  24, 
.Apr.  6, 
Mar.  24, 
.Aug.  28, 
•  Oct.      4, 


,C. 

.D. 
G. 

.C. 

.G. 

.C. 

.G. 

,H. 
D., 
C. 

.C. 


.17. 
.15. 
.14. 
.17. 
.23. 

.3i. 


M. 
.M. 

,M. 
S. 
,S. 

.s. 


iCav.S. 

14 

19.... M. 
17. ...M. 
17 


.Aug.  18, 
.Dec.  10, 
.Dec.  12, 
.Aug.  18, 

Sept.  29, 
.Mar.  23, 
.Oct.  31, 
.Mar.  22, 

Sept.  23, 
.Oct.    18, 


.H.. 
.C. 
.C. 
G 

•  A.. 
.1... 
.B.. 
.G.. 
,G.. 
K.. 
■  G.. 
G.. 
,G.. 
B.. 
II.. 
.B.. 
K.. 
,G.. 
G.. 
G.. 
,B.. 
B.. 
,H.. 


.14. 
.17. 
.17. 
23- 
.30. 
,.iD 
.14. 
.  I . 
.   I . 

•  5- 
.14. 
.14. 
•23. 
.31- 
•3i. 
.10. 

■  5. 
.23. 

.23. 

.23. 

.31. 

32. 

•  14. 


,..M. 

..S. 

..S. 
.  ..M. 

,..S. 

c.s. 


Nov.  22, 
Oct.  18, 
Aug.  18, 
Sept.  29, 
Jan.    12, 


..M. 
..S. 
..M. 
..S. 
..M. 
..M. 
..S. 
..S. 

..s. 
.  s. 

..M. 
..M. 

..S. 

..s. 

.s. 

..s. 

..s. 


.June 
.Feb. 
Feb. 
.June 
.Dec. 
.Dec. 
.Sept. 
Mar. 
,Apr. 
July 
.June 
.Sept. 
.Sept. 
.  Sept. 
.Mar. 
,Mar. 
Mar. 


I, 
26, 
26, 

24, 
12, 
12, 
29. 
10. 
16, 
24, 
24, 
29, 
29, 

29. 
10, 
10, 

22. 


.H....20. 
E....  5. 
K....   5. 

.G 23. 

B....31. 
H....14. 


,S....Oct.  16, 
,S. . .  .June  24, 

.M June  24, 

S. . .  .Sept.  29, 
,S....Apr.  16, 
,M.. .  .Mar.  22, 


H....14 
G....14. 


.C. 

.C. 

.G 

.G. 

,G. 

.G. 

.A. 

.B. 

.H. 


.17. 
.17. 
23- 
•23. 
•23. 
•23- 

.30. 
.  9. 

9- 


Mar.     4, 


Unasg'd, 


S....Aug.  18, 
S   . .  Aug.  18, 

M Sept.  29, 

M Sept.  29, 

S. . .  .Sept.  29, 
.Sept.  29, 
Jan.  6, 
.Sept.  22, 
.Sept.  21, 
.  Apr.     6, 


Living 
Living 

Living 


Living 
Living 


Living 
,  Living 


Living 
Living 

Living 


Living 


,  Living 
Living 

,  Living 


Living 
Living 


Living 
,  Living 
Living 


. . .  Living 


POLAND    CENTENNIAL. 


"7 


SUBSTITUTES. 


Na.e  of  Principal.  ""^^^^^^ 

Archibald,  Moses  Poland 

Bailey,  Willard  Poland   .. 

Bray.  Daniel  J..     ..       Poland 

Burnham,  O.  W  Poland   . . 

Chandler,  Ezra  D  Poland  . . 

Cobb,  Benj.  F Poland  .. 

Cobb,  Charles  H Poland   . . 

Danforth,  Francis  A Poland  . . . 

Davis,  John  C Poland   . 

Dennison,  Adna  T Poland . . . 

Dunn,  John  S Poland   . . 

Dunn,  Jonas  W Poland  .. 

Edwards,  Jonas Poland  .. 

Gerry,  William Poland  .. 

Hoyt,  Frederick  A Poland   . . 

Jordan,  Henry  N Poland   .. 

Jordan,  John  W Poland... 

Jordan,  Reuben  B Poland   .. 

Keene,  Araaziah  A Poland   . . 

Keene,  William  Poland 

Lane,  Charles. .    Poland  . . . 

Mason,  Joseph  S Poland   .. 

McCann,  Isaac  F.   ...    ...  Poland  . . 

Megquier,  Wm.  M Poland . . . 

Mumf ord  Augustus  I Poland . . . 

Muzzy,  Julius Poland . . . 

Nash,  Wm.  S Poland  . . 

Parsons,  Fred.  H   Poland  . . 

Pierce,  Charles  A Poland   .. 

Pulsifer,  John  R Poland.. 

Rounds,  David .    .  Poland... 

Russell,  Samuel  W Poland... 

Spurr,  Samuel  G Poland... 

Stanton,  James  H Poland 

Strout,  George  E Poland 

Thurston,  Edward  E Poland  . 

True,  Henry Poland 

Waterhouse,  Hannibal  H . .  Poland . . . 

Waterhouse,  Solon  S Poland 

Wight,  Tolman Poland     . 

York,  Wm  F Poland... 


Name  of  Substitute.  ^'["^  °'        ,P**«  °^ 

Navy.  Mustering. 

Daniel  McKay Army.. Feb.  24,  '65 

.Otis Thompson  Army.. Oct.     i,  '64 

John  McDonald ,.   ..  Army. .Sept.    5,  '(3 

Henry  D.  Bean Army.  .Sept.  22,  '64 

Henry  Jordan Army..  Sept.  27,  '64 

.  Joseph  C.  Bray Army . .  Sept.  27.  '64 

.GandonLouis Army. .Jan.      6,  '63 

.William  Greenwood  ...   .Army.. Aug.    8,  '63 

Abel  Mahomet Army.. Dec.  27,  '64 

.George  Brooks  Army.. Jan.,         '65 

.  Henry  Farrand Army    Jan.    27,  '65 

.Joseph  Burton Army.. Jan.    27,  '65 

.Florentine  Butler Army  .  .Sept.  27,  '64 

.  James  F.  Gerry Army . .  Sept.  22,  '64 

.  Adolphus  P.  Milson Army.. Aug.    5,  '63 

.Ellis  A.  Briggs Army.  Aug.    3,  '63 

.Chase  N.  Harris Army.  Feb.     3,  "65 

.Jeremiah  Tripp Army.. Aug.    5,  '63 

.Oliver  P.  Dudley   Army.  .Sept.  27,  '64 

Lewis  Morrin Army. .Feb.   14,  '65 

.Lemuel  T.  Marshall Army.. Oct.      4.  '64 

.  Henry  Hutchins Army.  .Aug.  21,  '63 

. William  Mclntyre Army. .Feb.   17,  '65 

.Harper  C.  McKeene Army.  .Feb.    14,  '65 

.Charles  McGowan Army.. Aug.    3,  '63 

.James  Curry  Army.. Aug.    7,  '63  . 

Frank  McCann Army.. Oct.     8,  '64  . 

.  Euseb  Degreeney Army.  .Oct.     6,  '64 

. Gilbert  Simons      Army  .Aug.    5,  '63 

Joshua  S.  Spiller..  .  .Army..  Sept.  i6,  '64 

.  Isaac  P.  Davis Army . .  Aug.    4,  '63 

.Cornelius  Harrington Army. .Oct.    17,  '64 

.Oscar  P.  Hughes ..  Army .  .Sept.  27,  '64 

John  J.  Marston Army  .Sept.  18,  '63 

John  Sullivan Navy  .  .Sept.  23,  '64 

, John  L.  Lippencott Army.. Aug.    7,  '63 

John  Cotton Army .  .Oct.    15.  '64 

.John  Hanrahan.. Army.. Feb.   17,  '65 

John  Smith      Army.. Feb.  10,  '65 

John  Colbert Army.  Feb.  18,  '65 

John  Williams Army.. Jan.     9,  '65 


Yrs. 


^h^L 


.ilill^^ 


